Santiago Álvarez
- Directing
- March 18, 1919 · Havana, Cuba
- May 20, 1998
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
- Rocha Que Voa · Self
- Accelerated Under-Development: In the Idiom of Santiago Alvarez · Self
- Historia de una Plaza · Director, Writer
- Brascuba · Director, Writer
- Coarse Salt · Horacio
- Claves, 4: Memories of Cuban cinema · Self
- Biografía de un carnaval · Director, Writer
- La marcha del pueblo combatiente · Director
- The Necessary War · Director
- My Brother, Fidel · Director, Writer
- El octubre de todos · Writer, Director
- To Die for Your Country Is to Live Forever · Director
- Luanda ya no es de San Pablo · Writer, Director
- Maputo meridiano novo · Director, Writer
- April in Vietnam in the Year of the Cat · Director
- The First Delegate · Director, Writer
- [Opening speech for the retrospective “Cuban Documentary Film”] [excerpt] · Director
- El milagro de la tierra morena · Director
- The Four Bridges · Director
- The New Tango · Writer, Director
- La hora de los cerdos · Director
- The Tiger Leaps and Kills, But It Will Die... It Will Die... · Director, Writer
- And Heaven Was Taken by Storm · Director, Screenplay
- 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) · Director
- Piedra sobre piedra · Director
- The Servant's Dream · Director, Screenplay
- 79 Springs · Director, Writer
- Take-Off at 18:00 Hours · Writer, Director
- Hanoi, Tuesday 13th · Director, Writer
- 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, Screenplay
- Cerro Pelado · Director
- Año 7 (Noticiero No. 290) · Director
- Abril de Girón · Director, Writer
- Primeros Juegos Deportivos Nacionales en Cuba (Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano) · Director
- Now! · Director
- Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam · Writer, Director
- Cyclone · Director
- Valentina Tereshkova visita a Cuba (Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano) · Director
- Muerte al invasor · Editing, Director
- Crisis en el Caribe (Noticiero ICAIC) · Writer, Director
- Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano · Director, Script
- Carnival · Production Manager
- El Tomate · Producer
- Towards Unity and Victory
- Los Ojos de Santiago