Film Archive

Jahr

Sections (Film Archive)

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Abyssal

Abisal
Alejandro Alonso
International Competition Short Film 2021
Documentary Film
Cuba,
France
2021
30 minutes
Spanish
Subtitles: 
French, English

A ship scrapyard in western Cuba. The observing camera follows Raudel and his colleagues who work in what seems like a hermetically sealed microcosm. A homing pigeon strays into the place; the workers contemplate it silently as they smoke. Sometimes they talk about their dreams. Shots are focussed in turns on their bodies and their surroundings. Rhythmic, artfully crafted and authentically produced sounds accompany precise and lucid images, without aestheticizing the harshness of their work.

Borjana Gaković

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Alejandro Alonso
Script
Lisandra López Fabé, Alejandro Alonso
Cinematographer
Alejandro Alonso
Editor
Emmanuel Peña
Producer
Boris Prieto, Alejandro Alonso, Oderay Ponce de León
Sound
Glenda Martínez Cabrera, Velia Díaz de Villalvilla, Alejandro Pérez
Score
Pepe Gavilondo
World Sales
Boris Prieto
Funder
Norwegian Fund for Cuban Cinema, CNC / Aide aux cinémas du monde
Winner of: Golden Dove Short Documentary (International Competition Short Film)
Retrospective 2023
Filmstill Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, No. 422
Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, No. 422
Santiago Álvarez
Fidel Castro comments on the events of the Prague Spring – in surprisingly critical terms. This newsreel report was withdrawn from the Leipzig festival programme in 1968.
Filmstill Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, No. 422

Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, No. 422

Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, No. 422
Santiago Álvarez
Retrospective 2023
Documentary Film
Cuba
1968
14 minutes
Spanish
Subtitles: 
English

In September 1968, Fidel Castro comments on the suppression of the Prague Spring in surprisingly critical terms. He opens his thunderous speech with the statement that it could endanger Cuba’s safety. Although Santiago Álvarez was the guest of honour at the Leipzig festival, this newsreel report was withdrawn from the programme. After long research it will be shown for the first time in Leipzig in this Retrospective.

Katharina Franck, Andreas Kötzing

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Santiago Álvarez
Producer
Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográficos ICAIC