Buena Vista Social Club

In this fascinating Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder brings together a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians (some in their 90s) to record a Grammy-winning CD in their native city of Havana. The result is a spectacular compilation of concert footage from the group's gigs in Amsterdam and New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, with director Wim Wenders capturing not only the music -- but also the musicians' life stories.

1999-06-04 | en

Sicko

A documentary about the corrupt health care system in The United States who's main goal is to make profit even if it means losing people’s lives. "The more people you deny health insurance the more money we make" is the business model for health care providers in America.

2007-05-18 | en

Cuba and the Cameraman

This revealing portrait of Cuba follows the lives of Fidel Castro and three Cuban families affected by his policies over the last four decades.

2017-09-08 | en

Cuban Rafters

The story of Cuban refugees who risked their lives in homemade rafts to reach the United States, and what life is like for those who succeed.

2002-04-12 | es

CBS Reports: The CIA's Secret Army

This program examines Cuban exile terrorists living in Miami. These terrorists were secretly trained and employed by the U.S. government in the early 1960s to fight Fidel Castro. Now, without U.S. support, terrorist activities continue in Miami and Latin America. The program reviews secret U.S. policies toward Cuba in the 1960s and includes interviews with Castro and former top CIA officials. Members of this group, formerly secretly trained and employed by U.S. Government until 1967, have been active in Watergate crimes and anti-Castro terrorism including bomb explosion on Cuban Airline killing seventy-three. Includes interviews with Castro, E. Howard Hunt, Bernard Barker, and Rolando Martinez.' - The Paley Center For Media

1977-06-10 | en

55 Siblings

The Antonio Maceo Brigade consists of fifty-five children of Cuban families that escaped the revolution and settled down in Miami. To the annoyance of their parents, the children developed pro-Castro ideas. This documentary follows the Brigade on its first visit to Cuba. When they meet family members and embrace old neighbours, childhood memories surface.

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The Voyage of the St. Louis

Documentary on the German luxury liner St. Louis that sailed from Hamburg to Cuba in 1939 carrying 937 German Jews. For 30 excruciating days the ship wandered the seas and was refused haven by every country in the Americas.

1995-05-25 | en

On Sugar Workers' Quarters

Documentary about the history of the bateyes, informal settlements surrounding the mills to house workers. Throughout the film, Sara Gómez recovers the political and cultural relevance of black migrants.

1971-06-16 | es

Cuba's Cancer Hope

When the U.S. trade embargo left Cuba isolated from medical resources, Cuban scientists were forced to get creative. Now they've developed lung cancer vaccines that show so much promise, some Americans are defying the embargo and traveling to Cuba for treatment. In an unprecedented move, Cuban researchers are working with U.S. partners to make the medicines more widely available.

2020-04-01 | en

Personal Che

A documentary that explores the myth behind the truth. Different people around the globe reinterpret the legend of Che Guevara at will: from the rebel living in Hong Kong fighting Chinese domination, to the German neonazi preaching revolution and the Castro-hating Cuban. Their testimonies prove that the Argentinian revolutionary's historical impact reverberates still. But like with all legends, each sees what he will, in often contradictory perspectives.

2007-09-01 | en

Maestras Voluntarias

Ana Deborah Mola and Belkis Lescaille were among the first young teachers who started pilot programs around the island of Cuba in 1960, laying foundation for the massive National Literacy Campaign that would take place the following year.

2022-04-22 | es

8A

The Kafkaesque world of Cuba under Castro's rule is brought to light in this reconstruction of the 1989 trial and execution of General Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez, the highest-ranking general and hero of the revolution, and commander of the Angolan and Ethiopian campaigns.

1993-01-01 | es

Cuban Food Stories

After ten years living as an expat in the United States, Asori Soto decides to return to his homeland of Cuba to search for the missing flavors of his childhood. This is a journey to discover culinary traditions long thought lost due to the hardship that Cuba survived after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

2018-02-21 | en

A Tuba To Cuba

A son seeking to fulfill his late father’s dream takes his band from the storied city of New Orleans to the shores of Cuba, where — through the universal language of music — dark and ancient connections between their peoples reveal the roots of jazz.

2019-02-15 | en

Fidel: The Untold Story

Documentary about Fidel Castro, covering 40 years of Cuban Revolution. Rare Fidel Castro footage: he appears swimming with a bodyguard, visiting his childhood home and school, playing with his friend Nelson Mandela, meeting kid Elián Gonzalez, and celebrating his birthday with the Buena Vista Social Club group.

2001-08-02 | en

Brothers in Exile

Major League Baseball has been transformed by the influx of Cuban players such as Aroldis Chapman, Yasiel Puig and Jose Abreu. But a special debt of gratitude is owed to two half-brothers, whose courage two decades ago paved the way for their stardom. "Brothers in Exile" tells the incredible story of Livan and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, who risked their lives to get off the island.

2014-11-04 | en

Leysi over media in Cuba

2023-10-05 | nl

Seguridad

In her feature documentary Seguridad, Newfoundland-based filmmaker Tamara Segura—once named “Cuba’s youngest soldier” in a militia publicity stunt—portrays her troubled relationship with her father in the context of the Cuban Revolution. When Segura accepts a scholarship to study film in Canada, the move offers crucial distance from her alcoholic father. After four years, she returns to Cuba hoping to make amends. But her father’s sudden death just days after her arrival forces Segura to explore his troubled past and the role Cuba’s highly militarized system played in his downfall. Through a series of deeply personal on-camera interviews with her immediate family, Segura unearths long-held secrets that ultimately tell a story of resilience and profound love between family members. Seguridad artfully weaves a lifetime’s worth of still photographs into its intimate narrative, which offers a rare glimpse into the inner lives of Cubans in the post-revolutionary era.

2024-04-05 | es

Karl Marx und seine Erben

Over the past hundred years, dramatic social upheavals have taken place in the name of Karl Marx's theories. In Western Europe, the student movement of 1968 and the Eurocommunists were inspired. And in recent times, the thinker has experienced a renaissance.

2018-04-28 | de

Luchando! Cuba's Struggle to Survive

This film was shot in Cuba in 1994. The opportunity came when Russel Porter, an Australian documentary filmmaker, was invited to teach at the international film and television school (EICTV) located some forty kilometers from Havana. He took the opportunity to make a film about life in Cuba today. He examines how people are surviving the hardships caused initially by the "blockade" imposed by the USA over 30 years ago and increased by the more recent loss of trade with the countries of Eastern Europe. The goal was to faithfully and objectively portray the current atmosphere and character of this "little island in the Caribbean." Apart from Russel and producer Denise Patience, the film crew was Cuban: cinematographer Alejandro Perez, sound recordist Lenin de los Reyes, production manager Elaine Santos, and local liaison Alex Alday.

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