Álvarez, Santiago (1919–1998)

Cuban documentary film-maker. A prolific producer of documentary and newsreel films, Álvarez rose to prominence in the wake of the Cuban revolution. He rapidly established himself as one of the foremost documentary film-makers in Latin American cinema with such groundbreaking films as Now (1965), a critique of US race relations featuring a musical performance by the US singer and actor Lena Horne.

Álvarez's films are distinguished by their adept blending of visual and audio forms; indeed, they make use of everything at hand, with musical fragments, still images, television clips, and extracts from feature films cut together with documentary footage. Álvarez's wide array of documentary films and newsreels focuses on both the personal and the political, embracing both Cuban and international themes.

Major works of the 1960s included Ciclón/Cyclone (1963), Hanoi, martes 13/Hanoi, Tuesday the 13th (1967), LBJ (1968), La hora de los hornos/The Hour of the Furnaces (1968), and 79 primaveras/79 Springs (1969).

Among his many other works, covering topics as diverse as sporting events, the Cuban revolution, the Vietnam War, and Cuba's relationship with the Soviet Union, are Muerte al invasor/Death to the Invader (1961), Ocho años de la revolución/Eight Years of Revolution (1966), La hora de los cerdos/The Hour of the Pigs (1973), and Mi hermano Fidel/My Brother Fidel (1977), in which the Cuban dictator Castro interviews a farmer who witnessed the 1895 War of Independence as a young boy. Álvarez continued to work into the 1990s before the onset of Parkinson's disease brought an end to his career.

In 1959, Álvarez was appointed vice-president of the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematograficas (ICAIC). From 1960, he was director of the Latin American ICAIC newsreel.