Directing
Santiago Álvarez
EN, ES, PT cinema · 58 credits
Born
18 March 1919
Died
20 May 1998 (aged 79)
Birthplace
Havana, Cuba
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
El camino de Santiago: Periodismo, cine y revolución
as Santiago Alvarez
Memória Cubana
as Self (archive footage)
Rocha Que Voa
as Self (voice)
Historia de una Plaza
1989
Historia de una Plaza
Writer, Director
Brascuba
Writer, Director
Coarse Salt
as Horacio
The Necessary War
Director
My Brother, Fidel
Director, Writer
El octubre de todos
Director, Writer
Maputo meridiano novo
Director, Writer
Luanda ya no es de San Pablo
Writer, Director
The First Delegate
Director, Writer
The New Tango
Writer, Director
And Heaven Was Taken by Storm
Director, Screenplay
Che
1972
Che
Director
The Servant's Dream
Director, Screenplay
Hanoi, Tuesday 13th
Director, Writer
79 Springs
Director, Writer
Take-Off at 18:00 Hours
Writer, Director
LBJ
Director
The Forgotten War
Director, Screenplay
Cerro Pelado
Director
Abril de Girón
1966
Abril de Girón
Director, Writer
Now!
Director
Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam
Writer, Director
Cyclone
Director
Muerte al invasor
Editor, Director
Crisis en el Caribe (Noticiero ICAIC)
1962
Crisis en el Caribe (Noticiero ICAIC)
Producer, Director, Writer
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano
Director, Script
Carnival
Production Manager
El Tomate
Producer