Santiago Álvarez Román

Cuban filmmaker. He wrote and directed several documentaries about Cuban and American culture.

Some of his most well-known works are the short film Now (1964), about racial discrimination, which is considered by specialists as the precursor to the modern music video. LBJ (1968) and 79 Primaveras (1969) analyze the main figures of the Vietnam War (Lyndon B. Johnson and Ho Chi Minh respectively). In 1968, he collaborated with Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas on the documentary La Hora de los hornos, about the effects of imperialism in South America.

Founder and director of the Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, his work stood out for the active presence of journalism, the reflection of important historical events such as the mercenary invasion of Cuba in 1961, the skillful use of editing and the use of the soundtrack as an inseparable part of the dramatic action. He defended the importance of film journalism as an enrichment of the documentary and affirmed: "I report on events based on ideas I have about those events". For his work as a filmmaker he received more than 80 first prizes at international festivals and national competitions.

He was named a member of the Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic and perpetual master of the International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños. He was an advisor to Cuba's Minister of Culture, President of the National Federation of Film Clubs and until 1986, was a member of the National Assembly of People's Power.
In his honor, the Festival Internacional de Documentales Santiago Álvarez in Memoriam is currently celebrated annually in the city of Santiago de Cuba. Jean-Luc Godard dedicated his second film of "Histoires du cinéma" to him. In 1991 he was awarded the José Martí National Journalism Prize.

He died from Parkinson's disease in Havana on May 20, 1998 and was buried in the Colón Cemetery, in Havana.

Filmography
El bárbaro del ritmo (1960)
Ciclón (1960)
Muerte al invasor (1961), co-directed with Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Segunda Declaración de La Habana (1965)
Now (1965)
Hanoi, martes 13 (1965)
La guerra olvidada (1965)
Hasta la victoria siempre (1965)
Golpeando en la selva (1965) - About guerrillas in Colombia.
La hora de los hornos (1966) - About imperialism in South America
L.B.J (1966) - About Lyndon B. Johnson
79 Primaveras (1967) - About the life of Ho Chi Minh
Piedra sobre piedra (1968) - About the earthquake in Peru
La estampida (1970) - About the American invasion of Laos
De América soy hijo y a ella me debo (1971) - Documentary feature about Fidel Castro's trip to Chile.
El tigre saltó y mató… pero… morirá…morirá…!!! (1973)
Y el cielo fue tomado por asalto (1974)- Documentary feature about Fidel Castro's trip to Algeria and socialist countries
Los cuatro puentes (1974) - Fidel at the V Conference of Non-Aligned Countries and trip to Vietnam
Abril de Vietnam en el año del Gato (1975) - His masterwork. It addresses the Vietnam War from an anti-imperialist perspective, much more precise, truthful and human than the rest of the documentaries and films made by the USA.
El sol no se puede tapar con un dedo (1976) - Fidel at the XXV Congress of the CPSU
El tiempo es el viento (1976)- First Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba
Morir por la patria es vivir (1976) - About the sabotage of the Cubana de Aviación plane in Barbados
Mi hermano Fidel (1977)
El octubtre de todos (1977) - Fidel's trip to several African countries
Y la noche se hizo arcoiris (1978) - Fidel's trip to Ethiopia
El gran salto al vacío (1979)
La guerra necesaria (1980)
Celia, imagen del pueblo
Las antípodas de la victoria (1986)
Aires de renovación en el meridiano 37 (1986)
BrasCuba (1987) (co-directed)
Una nave llena de sueños (1987)
Signo de los nuevos tiempos (1988)
Historia de una Plaza (1989)
El sol que no descansa ni olvida (1989)
Brevario de una visita (1991)
¿Perdedores? (1991)
Imágenes del futuro (1992)
¡Ave María! (1993)
Del Caribe colombiano (1994)
Cartagena, segunda independencia (1994)
Cubanos en Barranquilla (1994)
El muro (1995)
Concierto mayor (1997)
Concierto para la vida (1997)
La isla de la música (1997)