A Cuban Fight Against Demons

In 1672 Cuban revolutionaries launch an uprising against the Spanish who are occupying the country. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2017.

The Elephant and The Bicycle

After two years in jail, El Isleño returns to the island of La Fe, ruled by the dictator Francisco Gavilán. He arrives with a cinematograph and exhibits "Robin Hood" to the people. The next day the bridge that communicates La Fe to the mainland has been destroyed, and the people plan to overthrow Gavilán.

The Recourse to the Method

Set in the early 1900s, this film charts the rule of a Latin American dictator as he moves from being a charming despot to a tyrannical ruler before he is finally ousted, only to die in obscurity in Paris. Early in his regime, the resources and agricultural products his country sells command high prices, and he is a reasonably confident, even gentle, ruler who likes to take long vacations with his daughter in Paris. After World War I, with falling prices and a number of coup attempts behind him, his rule becomes quite cruel.

Tiempo de Partir

Alfredo for years has dreamed of living the exciting adventures he reads in the National Geographic magazine. Now that he is an old man, he believes that his dream has failed, but one day he discovers an article that will change his mind.

The First Charge of the Machete

Cuban peasants wield machetes in a violent uprising against Spanish authorities in the late 19th century.

Too Afraid of Life or Splat

A superstitious middle-aged woman falls in love with a taxi driver, while trying to learn the identity of the unseen person tossing eggs at her.

The Days of Water

This Cuban feature examines the circumstances arising out of a woman's claim to have seen the Virgin Mary and to have been healed by waters from a nearby stream. In an accelerating storm of cynical opportunism, her sincere beliefs are exploited by businessmen, politicians and military men. Rival groups compete to exploit the hysteria the vision causes, and the chaos culminates in a revolution. Striking imagery and skillful camerawork enhance this feature.