I Am Cuba
Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964, 141 min

Introduced by Ranjit S. Ruprai and followed by discussion with film studies teacher and researcher Dr. Kulraj Phullar

Soviet film director Mikhail Kalatozov’s poetic anthology is a visually audacious panorama of Cuban life and its hardships in the approach to armed revolution. Individual stories of poverty and resistance are given the epic treatment with dazzling scenes and breathtaking camera movements; revolutionary cinema in form as well as content. Was this perhaps too technically accomplished to connect with Cuban audiences looking for something genuinely local and imperfect? The film did not find an audience in Russia either and only made its way to international audiences in the 1990s with the support of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford

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Screening as part of The Revolutionary Cinema double bill