Wednesday, February 6, 8:00 pm
Nobody Listened

(Nestor Almendros and Jorge Ulla, Cuba, 1989)

Oscar-winning and master cinematographer of over 40 films, Nestor Almendros co-directs this striking documentary about the persecution, oppression and stark treatment of dissidents in Fidel Castro’s Cuba. The film is build around over thirty interviews with people who give candid and disturbing testimonies about racial, religious and political discrimination and their experiences as prisoners in Castro’s primitive forced-labor camps. Thorough their collective experiences the film reveals the circumstances in Cuba on historical, political and emotional levels, offering an eloquent and moving perspective of a controversial and difficult topic.

“A stark and terrifying documentary that will chill you to the bone…”– New York Daily News

“Nobody listened is the story of an overlong silence, of the end of a 30 year myth of Castroism – or the history of the disappointment of a vast collective hope. The silence has been broken…” – Le Monde

Wednesday, February 13, 8:00pm
Improper Conduct

(Nestor Almendros and Orlando Jiménez-Leal, Cuba, 1984)

Screening introduced by film critic, historian and Almendros’ friend Elliott Stein. Party will follow at Two Boots Den of Cin (44 Avenue A at 3^rd St.)

Legendary cinematographer Nestor Almendros first work as a director, this film is an arresting documentary about the persecution under Castro’s regime of those accused of “improper conduct,” focusing primarily on the discrimination against homosexuals. Editors, writers, artists and some former Castro officials and friends who were jailed, mistreated and/or left the country describe their harsh and humiliating experiences. Poet Armando Valladares describes the horrors of prison during his 22 years behind bars, and other writers such as Reinaldo Arenas, Herberto Padilla and Guillermo Cabrera Infante, interviewed while in exile, give accounts of Castro’s systematic persecution.

“The most contested political documentary of the year.” J. Hoberman – Village Voice (1984)

“A landmark film by the simple fact of its existence.Improper Conduct asks us serious and important questions with surprising candor. Nestor Almendros, a non-political man ‘par excellence,’ seems now to raise his voice despite himself, because the fraud has gone too long.” ­– Le Monde.

Preceded by:

Meditations on Revolution Part I: Lonely Planet
(Robert Fenz, USA, 1997)

“An observation in long shots of the serene rhythm of Havana's street life. Concerned with space, time, movement and light, it is a structured improvisational homage to Cuba's endurance.” - Filmmaker's Co-op catalogue.

Wednesday, February 20, 8:00 pm
I am Cuba / Soy Cuba / Ya Kuba

(Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR/Cuba, 1964

“A mind-blowing, sensuous, roller-coaster ride, complete with bathing beauties, landless peasants and student revolutionaries, I am Cuba¸ is one of the great discoveries of the decade.It will change your view of cinema forever.” -Milestone Films Catalogue.

“One of the most deliriously beautiful films ever made.” – L.A. Weekly

Michael Rubbo, Canada/Australia, 1974

In this film, Rubbo traveled to Cuba with Joseph Smallwood, the former socialist premier of Newfoundland, and Geoff Stirling, a millionaire owner of radio and television stations, with the intention of filming them interviewing Fidel Castro. 

"There was Cuba laid out for us with tours here and there to schools and mental hospitals while we waited for Fidel to drive through the gates of the mansion where we were lodged. Within a day, I knew that life could not have handed me a more intriguing drama. So Fidel or no Fidel, I began to film our antics." – Michael Rubbo. Castro never appeared. - Museum of Modern Art Film Catalogue

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Photo courtesy of Drew Associates

Yanki No! (Robert Drew, USA, 1960)

Filmmaker present for Q&A session. Deals with the theme of anti-American feeling in Latin America. Incorporating elements of direct cinema and frequent use of sound/image juxtaposition, the film employs as its thematic springboard a meeting of the Organization of American States at which passage of the Declaration of San José, condemning Cuba’s cooperation with the Russians and Sino-Soviet intervention in Latin America, infuriates the Venezuelan representative Arcaya and results in the angry departure of the Cuban delegation.”-New York Public Library Catalogue.

“An arresting and fascinating study…(has) truly a remarkable vitality and an intimacy of perspective.” – New York Times

“In Havana, Castro would whip a crowd of a million into a frenzy.  I imagined mobs charging the camera shouting "Yanki No!" A week later in Caracas they were doing just that and I was grateful to be able to duck into a parked car. But by combining candid humanity with documentary exposition we were able to allow the actions of diplomats, slum dwellers and protesters to drive home the problems and attitudes confronting the U.S. south of its borders. The program was praised right and left.” – Robert Drew