Santiago Álvarez (1919-1998) was a maker of pop art—of agit pop art, to be exact. His films are like posters, loud, exciting, thrilling, or disturbing, but above all: clear. In Álvarez, the Cuban Revolution found a filmmaker who gave cinematic credibility to its political potential and eroticism – a communism that could be as delicate as Hanoi, martes 13 (1967) or as gripping and powerful as Now! (1965); as biting in irony as L.B.J. (1968) and as burning with hope as El tigre saltó y mató pero morirá ... morirá ...!! (1973), a tribute to folksinger Victor Jara, who was murdered by the Chilean junta.
Álvarez’s filmmaking was inspired by Dziga Vertov and the interventionist collage art of John Heartfield. Unlike ‘direct cinema’, which in the sixties represented the dominant discourse on documentary film in the ‘first world’, Álvarez did not believe in an ‘objective’ cinema that represents social contexts seemingly impartial. He was involved in building a new, hopefully better world – his films consist of his ideals, beliefs, and desires. These come alive within the editing, from individually charged moments to the clash of contradictions. Thus, a current is produced, a rhythm, a flow—it is no coincidence that music plays such a central role in Álvarez’s work, both as a stylistic element and as a subject in itself. (Austrian Filmmuseum)
