Santiago Álvarez

Personal Info

Known For Director

Gender Male

Birthday 1919-03-18

Deathday 1998-05-20 (79 years old)

Place of Birth Havana, Cuba

Santiago Álvarez

Biography

He studied in the United States but in the mid-1940s returned to Cuba, where he worked as a music archivist in a television station and participated in Communist Party activities.[1] After the Cuban Revolution he became a founding member of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) and directed its weekly Latin American Newsreel.[2] One of his most famous works, the short Now (1964) about racial discrimination in the US, mixed news photographs and musical clips featuring singer/actress Lena Horne. Other well-known works included the anti-imperialist satire LBJ (1968) and 79 Springs (1969), a poetic tribute to Ho Chi Minh. In 1968, he collaborated with Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas (members of Grupo Cine Liberación) on the four-hour documentary Hora de los hornos, about foreign imperialism in South America. Among the other subjects he explored in his films were the musical and cultural scene in Latin America and the dictatorships which gripped the region. The second chapter of French director Jean-Luc Godard's Histoire(s) du cinéma is dedicated to Álvarez, amongst others.[3] He died of Parkinson's disease in Havana on May 20, 1998 and was buried there in the Colon Cemetery.

Known For

Director

1989
1987
Brascuba

as Director

1980
The Necessary War

as Director

1977
My Brother, Fidel

as Director

1977
1976
1975
The First Delegate

as Director

1974
The Four Bridges

as Director

1973
The New Tango

as Director

1973
1972
1971
The Stampede

as Director

1970
1970
1969
1969
79 Springs

as Director

1969
1968
LBJ

as Director

1967
The Forgotten War

as Director

1966
Cerro Pelado

as Director

1966
Abril de Girón

as Director

1965
Now!

as Director

1964
Cyclone

as Director

1962
Muerte al invasor

as Director

1962

Writer

1989
1987
Brascuba

as Writer

1977
1977
1976
1975
1973
The New Tango

as Writer

1970
The Servant's Dream

as Screenplay

1969
79 Springs

as Writer

1969
1966
Abril de Girón

as Writer

1962

Producer

1962
1960
Carnival

as Production Manager

1959
El Tomate

as Producer

Editor

1962