Sergio Corrieri

Four vignettes on the lives of the Cuban people in the pre-revolutionary era. In Havana, Maria is ashamed when a man she loves discovers how she makes a living. Pedro, an old farmer, discovers that the land he cultivates is being sold to an American company. A student sees his friends attacked by the police while they distribute leaflets supporting Fidel Castro. Finally, a peasant family is threatened by Batista's army.

In the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs incident, Sergio chooses to stay behind in Cuba while his wife and family escape to neighboring Miami. Alone in a brave new world, Sergio observes the constant threat of foreign invasion while chasing young women all over Havana. He finally meets Elena, a young girl he seeks to mould into the image of his ex-wife, but at what cost to himself?

Desarraigo

A documentary about a class struggle in the Escambray mountain range in Cuba.

Contemporary film critics regard the epic film I Am Cuba as a modern masterpiece. The 1964 Cuban/Soviet coproduction marked a watershed moment of cultural collaboration between two nations. Yet the film never found a mass audience, languishing for decades until its reintroduction as a "classic" in the 1990s. Vicente Ferraz explores the strange history of this cinematic tour de force, and the deeper meaning for those who participated in its creation.

La ausencia

Three stories reconstructing the start of the triumphant Cuban revolution which deposed Batista.

1964, in the Escambray mountains: the area is infested with counter- revolutionary bands which are trying to spread terror among the population and re-establish contact with the US, CIA. The murder of a man led to a reprisal to wipe out the bandits.

The film is based on the historical event known as the Protest of Baraguá.

Xavier Mina accepted the commission to lead a liberating expedition in support of General Morelos. He failed to arrive in Mexico until Morelos had died and the Mexican Congress (which in New Spain faced the absolutism of Fernando VII) was dissolved, but for eight months he directed a series of more or less brilliant military actions, in the face of the harassment of the Viceroy , Who finally got him arrested.