Santiago Álvarez
Director
39
Filmes
0
Séries
Santiago Álvarez Román (March 8, 1919 – May 20, 1998) was a Cuban documentary filmmaker and a central figure in revolutionary Latin American cinema. After studying in the United States, he returned to Cuba in the mid-1940s, where he worked as a music archivist for television and became active in Communist Party circles. Following the Cuban Revolution, he was a founding member of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) and went on to direct its influential weekly Latin American Newsreel, shaping a new model of politically engaged documentary production.
Álvarez became internationally known for short films that combined found footage, photographs, animation, and music through rapid, associative editing—often described as “nervous montage.” His best-known works include Now! (1964), addressing racial discrimination in the United States; LBJ (1968), a satirical critique of U.S. imperialism; and 79 Springs (1969), a poetic tribute to Ho Chi Minh. In 1968, he collaborated with Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino on The Hour of the Furnaces, a landmark four-hour documentary on neocolonialism and political struggle in Latin America.
Across dozens of films, Álvarez documented music, culture, revolutionary movements, and authoritarian regimes throughout the Americas and beyond. His work influenced generations of political filmmakers, and he was later acknowledged by Jean-Luc Godard in Histoire(s) du cinéma. Álvarez died in Havana in 1998 from Parkinson’s disease and was buried in Colón Cemetery.
Por Trás das Câmeras
¿Cómo, por qué y para qué se asesina un general?
Director
Now!
Director
El sueño del pongo
Director, Guionista
LBJ
Director
El tigre saltó y mató, pero morirá... morirá...
Director, Escritor
La guerra necesaria
Director
Muerte al invasor
Editor, Director
Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam
Director, Escritor
79 primaveras
Director, Escritor
Brascuba
Director, Escritor
Hanoi, martes 13
Director, Escritor
Ciclón
Director
De América soy hijo... y a ella me debo
Director
Carnaval
Production Manager
Mi hermano Fidel
Director, Escritor
Despegue a las 18:00
Director, Escritor
Hasta la Victoria Siempre
Director
Luanda ya no es de San Pablo
Director, Escritor
Año 7 (Noticiero No. 290)
Director
El primer delegado
Director, Escritor
La Guerra Olvidada
Director, Guionista
Morir por la patria es vivir
Director
Abril de Vietnam en el año del gato
Director
Maputo meridiano novo
Director, Escritor
...Y el cielo fue tomado por asalto
Director
Cerro Pelado
Director
El nuevo tango
Director, Escritor
El Tomate
Productor
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano
Director, Script
El octubre de todos
Director, Escritor
Como Ator/Atriz
Sal gorda
Horacio
Memória Cubana
Self (archive footage)
El camino de Santiago: Periodismo, cine y revolución
Santiago Alvarez
Claves para el Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, 4: Memorias del cine cubano
Self
Accelerated Under-Development: In the Idiom of Santiago Alvarez
Himself
Rocha Que Voa
Self (voice)
Por la unidad hacia la victoria