On January 24, 1897, an event took place that would change Cuban culture forever: the first moving pictures were shown in Havana. A couple of weeks later, on February 7, the first movie was filmed on the island. Since then, cinematography and Cuba have shared peculiar and innate connections, as their beginnings roughly coincide and Cubans are living in both the age of independence and revolution and the age of film.
This work is a filmography of every Cuban film (including documentaries, shorts and cartoons) released from 1897, the first year films were shown and made in Cuba, through 2001. Each entry gives the original title of the film, the English translation of it, director, production company or companies, year of release, black and white or color, total running time, writing credits if the film is based on a story or novel, animation credits if the film is a cartoon, music credits if music has been written specifically for the film, cast credits, and a synopsis and short critical evaluation.
The work also provides comments on the relationship between Cuban film and history, and the changes that have taken place over the years in themes, topics, methods, and other aspects of filmmaking in Cuba.

Alfonso J. García Osuna is the chair of the Department of Foreign Languages at Kingsborough, a College of the City University of New York. He is also the author of The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes (2005).

Alfonso J. García Osuna
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 224
Bibliographic Info: 15 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2006 [2003]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2727-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0531-9
Imprint: McFarland

Preface     1
Introduction     5
A History of Cuban Film     9
The Films     49
Conclusion     185
Bibliography     189
Index     207

“essential…only this [book] makes it possible to find information about specific Cuban films…a marvelously helpful 39-page essay on the history of Cuban cinema provides context…important…highly recommended”—Choice; “excellent…entertaining”—C&RL News; “highly recommend this book”—Perspectives of Film; “comprehensive coverage…well-written synopses”—ARBA; “useful”—Against the Grain; “solid…first-class reference”—Midwest Book Review.