Known For
Directing
Born
Mar 18, 1919
Died
May 20, 1998
Place of Birth
Havana, Cuba
Credits
57 titles
Santiago Álvarez
Biography
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.
Known For
Filmography
Éter
Sound
El camino de Santiago: Periodismo, cine y revolución
Santiago Alvarez
Memória Cubana
Self (archive footage)
Rocha Que Voa
Self (voice)
Accelerated Under-Development: In the Idiom of Santiago Alvarez
Himself
Historia de una Plaza
Director
Brascuba
Director
Coarse Salt
Horacio
Claves, 4: Memories of Cuban cinema
Self
Biografía de un carnaval
Director
La marcha del pueblo combatiente
Director
The Necessary War
Director
My Brother, Fidel
Director
El octubre de todos
Writer
To Die for Your Country Is to Live Forever
Director
Luanda ya no es de San Pablo
Writer
Maputo meridiano novo
Director
April in Vietnam in the Year of the Cat
Director
The First Delegate
Director
[Opening speech for the retrospective “Cuban Documentary Film”] [excerpt]
Director
El milagro de la tierra morena
The Four Bridges
Director
The New Tango
Writer
La hora de los cerdos
Director
And Heaven Was Taken by Storm
Director
The Tiger Leaps and Kills, But It Will Die... It Will Die...
Director
I Am a Son of America
Director
Che
Director
The Stampede
Director
El Drama de Nixon
Director
¿Cómo, por qué y para qué se asesina un general?
Director
Entrevista al presidente Salvador Allende (Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano)
Piedra sobre piedra
Director
The Servant's Dream
Director
79 Springs
Director
Take-Off at 18:00 Hours
Writer
Hanoi, Tuesday 13th
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
LBJ
Director
Hasta la Victoria Siempre
Director
The Forgotten War
Director
Cerro Pelado
Director
Año 7 (Noticiero No. 290)
Director
Abril de Girón
Director
Primeros Juegos Deportivos Nacionales en Cuba (Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano)
Director
Now!
Director
Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam
Writer
Cyclone
Director
Valentina Tereshkova visita a Cuba (Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano)
Director