Santiago Álvarez
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.
Los Ojos de Santiago
Towards Unity and Victory
Memória Cubana
(Self (archive footage))
Coarse Salt
(Horacio)
Accelerated Under-Development: In the Idiom of Santiago Alvarez
(Himself)
El camino de Santiago: Periodismo, cine y revolución
(Santiago Alvarez)
Rocha Que Voa
(Self (voice))
El milagro de la tierra morena
Claves, 4: Memories of Cuban cinema
(Self)
The First Delegate
(Director)
The First Delegate
(Writer)
Hanoi, Tuesday 13th
(Director)
Now!
(Director)
79 Springs
(Director)
LBJ
(Director)
My Brother, Fidel
(Director)
The Forgotten War
(Director)
Muerte al invasor
(Editor)
The Servant's Dream
(Director)
Hasta la Victoria Siempre
(Director)
The Tiger Leaps and Kills, But It Will Die... It Will Die...
(Director)
The New Tango
(Writer)
The New Tango
(Director)
Cerro Pelado
(Director)
I Am a Son of America
(Director)
Piedra sobre piedra
(Director)
April in Vietnam in the Year of the Cat
(Director)
Cyclone
(Director)
¿Cómo, por qué y para qué se asesina un general?
(Director)
The Necessary War
(Director)
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano No. 466: Celebration of the VI Amateur World Series in the Dominican Republic. Cuba-USA Final.
(Director)
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, No. 422
(Director)
The Servant's Dream
(Screenplay)
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano
(Director)
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano
(Script)
Muerte al invasor
(Director)
My Brother, Fidel
(Writer)
79 Springs
(Writer)
The Tiger Leaps and Kills, But It Will Die... It Will Die...
(Writer)
Take-Off at 18:00 Hours
(Writer)
Take-Off at 18:00 Hours
(Director)
El Tomate
(Producer)
Carnival
(Production Manager)
Hanoi, Tuesday 13th
(Writer)
To Die for Your Country Is to Live Forever
(Director)
The Stampede
(Director)
La hora de los cerdos
(Director)
The Four Bridges
(Director)
And Heaven Was Taken by Storm
(Director)
Año 7 (Noticiero No. 290)
(Director)
Brascuba
(Writer)
Brascuba
(Director)
Crisis en el Caribe (Noticiero ICAIC)
(Producer)
Crisis en el Caribe (Noticiero ICAIC)
(Director)
Crisis en el Caribe (Noticiero ICAIC)
(Writer)
Maputo meridiano novo
(Director)
Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam
(Writer)
Luanda ya no es de San Pablo
(Writer)
Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam
(Director)
El octubre de todos
(Director)
Abril de Girón
(Director)
Abril de Girón
(Writer)
El octubre de todos
(Writer)
Luanda ya no es de San Pablo
(Director)
Biografía de un carnaval
(Writer)
Maputo meridiano novo
(Writer)
Biografía de un carnaval
(Director)
Historia de una Plaza
(Writer)
Historia de una Plaza
(Director)
[Opening speech for the retrospective “Cuban Documentary Film”] [excerpt]
(Director)
Éter
(Sound)
El milagro de la tierra morena
(Director)
Che
(Director)
The Forgotten War
(Screenplay)