Cuban Double Feature

Academy Film Archive restorations. U.S. premieres in association with Cinemateca de Cuba.

Special panelists: cinematographer Mario García Joya, actress and widow of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Mirta Ibarra.

Hosted by the director of Havana’s Cinemateca de Cuba, Luciano Castillo.

A CUBAN FIGHT AGAINST THE DEMONS (1972)
(UNA PELEA CUBANA CONTRA LOS DEMONIOS)

Description: Academy Film Archive U.S. restoration premiere in association with Cinemateca de Cuba.
Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Produced by Camilo Vives. Screenplay by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea in collaboration with José Triana, Vicente Revuelta, Miguel Barnet. Based on a book by Fernando Ortiz.
Cast: José Antonio Rodríguez, Raúl Pomares, Silvano Rey, Olivia Belizaires, Reinaldo Miravalles, Véronica Lynn, Armando Bianchi.
DCP. 120 minutes.

Cuban filmmaker Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s film is based on Fernando Ortiz Fernández’s 1959 book Historia de una pelea cubana contra los demonios. Set in 1672, the film tells the story of Cuban revolutionaries launching an uprising against Spanish occupation. As with many other Cuban films, A Cuban Fight against the Demons is rarely screened in the United States.

THE SURVIVORS (1979)
(LOS SOBREVIVIENTES)

Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Produced by Evelio Delgado. Screenplay by Gutiérrez Alea, Antonio Benítez Rojo.
Cast:  Enrique Santiesteban, Reinaldo Miravalles, Vicente Revuelta, Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera, Ana Viña, Germán Pinelli, Patricio Wood.
DCP. 110 minutes.

Following the Cuban revolution in 1959, an aristocratic family hides away in their mansion, ignoring the changes occurring in their country. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s satire explores themes of anti-colonialism while offering a poignant critique of the deluded family, clinging to the past and making futile attempts to avoid the inevitable collision with the new social order.