ICA is closed from the 30 May – 3 June inclusive.
18 - 29 March 2025
Screen Cuba celebrates Cuba’s pioneering homegrown cinema industry, looking at the achievements and challenges of the Cuban people through the decolonising lenses of their filmmakers since the 1959 revolution, and presenting films rarely screened in the UK. With a range of directors and diverse themes, it presents inspiring shorts, ground-breaking features, documentaries, and discussions with Cuban film specialists.
This is the second edition of the festival and continues with its focus on films that had an impact on Cuban society, often sparking widespread discussions and debate on release, and resulting in real changes in how issues like sexism, relations within the family, homophobia, race discrimination and bureaucracy are approached. There is also a focus on documentary filmmaking –including the pioneering work of Santiago Álvarez, who radically changed how news was presented. Many of the films are from the archives of the state funded Cuban film institute (ICAIC) in Havana, some are newly restored.
The festival aims to provide a platform for showcasing some of the best of Cuban cinema, in the face of the inhumane US blockade against the island that inhibits international distribution as well as limiting filmmaking resources. The festival also supports projects of ICAIC such as the restoration and digitalisation of classic films. Included in this programme are two 1970s cartoons by Cuba’s godfather of animation, Juan Padrón, restored last year by Screen Cuba.
Screen Cuba is a collaboration between the Music Fund for Cuba charity, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, the Cuban Embassy in London and the Cuban film institute ICAIC in Havana. Screenings are also taking place at the Garden Cinema and Birkbeck University Cinema and beyond London.
More info at https://screencuba.uk
Screen Cuba celebrates Cuba’s pioneering homegrown cinema industry, looking at the achievements and challenges of the Cuban people through the decolonising lenses of their filmmakers since the 1959 revolution, and presenting films rarely screened in the UK. With a range of directors and diverse themes, it presents inspiring shorts, ground-breaking features, documentaries, and discussions with Cuban film specialists.
This is the second edition of the festival and continues with its focus on films that had an impact on Cuban society, often sparking widespread discussions and debate on release, and resulting in real changes in how issues like sexism, relations within the family, homophobia, race discrimination and bureaucracy are approached. There is also a focus on documentary filmmaking –including the pioneering work of Santiago Álvarez, who radically changed how news was presented. Many of the films are from the archives of the state funded Cuban film institute (ICAIC) in Havana, some are newly restored.
The festival aims to provide a platform for showcasing some of the best of Cuban cinema, in the face of the inhumane US blockade against the island that inhibits international distribution as well as limiting filmmaking resources. The festival also supports projects of ICAIC such as the restoration and digitalisation of classic films. Included in this programme are two 1970s cartoons by Cuba’s godfather of animation, Juan Padrón, restored last year by Screen Cuba.
Screen Cuba is a collaboration between the Music Fund for Cuba charity, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, the Cuban Embassy in London and the Cuban film institute ICAIC in Havana. Screenings are also taking place at the Garden Cinema and Birkbeck University Cinema and beyond London.
More info at https://screencuba.uk
Programme
Tuesday 18 March, 6.30pm
Guantanamera + Elpidio Valdés v. the Military Train
A satire on life (and death) during the ‘Special Period’ in Cuba following the demise of the Soviet Union, in the form of an entertaining road movie by Tomás Alea, Cuba’s most celebrated director, just before his death.
Tuesday 25 March, 6.30pm
Memories of Underdevelopment + For the First Time
The most internationally renowned film in the history of Cuban cinema, Memories of Underdevelopment explores the thoughts of privileged would-be writer Sergio as he faces a new uncertain life after his wife and family flee to the US in the early 1960s.
Saturday 29 March, 2.30pm
Accelerated Development: A Film in the Idiom of Santiago Álvarez + Hurricane + Funeral of Benny Moré + Cerro Pelado
A tribute to the revolutionary Cuban filmmaker Santiago Álvarez and his “urgent cinema” approach he developed, making hundreds of incredibly innovative newsreels and documentaries raising public consciousness from the early 1960s. Followed by three important early shorts by Alvarez.
Tuesday 18 March, 6.30pm
Guantanamera + Elpidio Valdés v. the Military Train
A satire on life (and death) during the ‘Special Period’ in Cuba following the demise of the Soviet Union, in the form of an entertaining road movie by Tomás Alea, Cuba’s most celebrated director, just before his death.
Tuesday 25 March, 6.30pm
Memories of Underdevelopment + For the First Time
The most internationally renowned film in the history of Cuban cinema, Memories of Underdevelopment explores the thoughts of privileged would-be writer Sergio as he faces a new uncertain life after his wife and family flee to the US in the early 1960s.
Saturday 29 March, 2.30pm
Accelerated Development: A Film in the Idiom of Santiago Álvarez + Hurricane + Funeral of Benny Moré + Cerro Pelado
A tribute to the revolutionary Cuban filmmaker Santiago Álvarez and his “urgent cinema” approach he developed, making hundreds of incredibly innovative newsreels and documentaries raising public consciousness from the early 1960s. Followed by three important early shorts by Alvarez.
no. 236848.