All language subtitles for Soy Cuba, O Mamute Siberiano.ENG

To Birri, Julio, Gabo and Tit�n
For having a great idea

To Maestro Carlos
Fari�as (in memoriam)

In 2001, I went to Havana in
search of a story lost in time:

the story of a movie to promote
the Cuban Revolution

made by a crew of soviet
filmmakers in 1963.

To tell the incredible journey
of this ambitious project

I looked for actors and crew
that worked on the film.

I found out that the memories
they kept in their minds

wasn't just of a movie, but
of a great adventure,

a unique movie experience.

RA�L RODR�GUEZ
CAMERA ASSISTANT IN "I AM CUBA"

I'm almost certain

that the movie was shot
in this factory.

There are two large
tobacco factories:

A H. Upmann and Corona.

By the location of the streets,

the angles of the corners

and the way they built
a type of cable car,

going in and out
of the building,

I think it was this factory.
I'm not 100% sure,

but I think it was this factory.

This incredible sequence,

a true cinematography
engineering masterpiece,

belongs to "I am Cuba,"
directed by Mikhail Kalatozov;

the first co-production between
Cuba and the ex-Soviet Union.

When I tried to unravel
each image on the movie,

I found, through the characters
I interviewed,

the memories of a time

and what was left
of a great Utopia.

This sequence left everybody

astonished.

I saw it when they made it.
Actor in I AM CUBA

I saw it.
I wasn't shooting.

I wasn't part of the scene,
but I was there.

- Yes, you were!
- It's true!

I didn't remember that.
It is the manifestation.

It's true, I'm part of it.

It was harder for me
to understand how Sergio,

one of the main characters
of the movie,

forgot he had participated
in that incredible scene

than to understand
how it was made.

Do you like the movie?

That's why in the next
80 minutes,

I decided not to worry only

about telling how each scene
in "I am Cuba" was made,

but to show the results
of the search

and the reunion with the past

of those who participated
in this adventure,

and how the destiny
of this curious film

got mixed up with the Cuban
Revolution itself.

I still ask myself

what film they wanted to make.

They said they wanted to make

a poetic film.

I think they wanted
a great epic poem,

and the romantic and passionate
environment was there,

there was no need to create it.

It was in the country,
inside us, inside myself.

At the time, I was

caught up in a romantic
passion euphoria
Co-author of I AM CUBA

brought by the revolution.

Everything was big,

an epopee, like an epic poem.

For me it was a great school,
I learned a lot.

The project was interesting.
The idea was exciting.

Actually, this movie came out
and was put aside.

Not only in Cuba, but I think
that everywhere.

The movie was unknown,
including to many Cubans.

When you mention
"I am Cuba" today,

people don't know what it is.

THE SIBERIAN MAMMOTH

To understand the reasons
why this movie

remained unknown for so long
in the East,

I began to look for the story
in the archives

of the Cuban Institute on
Cinematographic Arts and Industry.

And that's where I started this
great spiral journey into the past.

In the first years
of the Cuban Revolution

and of the creation of a new
cinematography in Latin America.

One of the first decrees
of the revolutionary government

was to create the ICAIC,

Cuban Institute on
Cinematographic Arts and Industry.

This was in March, 1959,

only three months after
the rebels came to Havana.

For the actors, the creation
of the ICAIC

was extraordinary.

Actor in I AM CUBA

Making and working with movies

was inconceivable before that.

Here, in the movie world,
we were learning
Actor in I AM CUBA

and doing many things.

We went through a lot
and invented many things
Production secretary in I AM CUBA

to do something worthwhile.

No resources, nothing.

Those were ICAIC's
most beautiful days.

"JULY 26th, 1959.
DEAR ALFREDO:

AS SOON AS I GOT
YOUR LETTER,

I CONTACTED THE COMPANY
AND MADE THIS OFFER:

ESTABLISHING A STUDIO,
THROUGH JAPAN, EQUIPPED

FOR 3 FILMS A MONTH,
PAID WITH SUGAR.

I CAME ACROSS
A FEW SURPRISES:

ALL STUDIOS USE AMERICAN
AND GERMAN CAMERAS,

MOSTLY AMERICANS.

I'M SENDING YOU A BOOK
THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL.

I DON'T KNOW ITS VALUE
AS I DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH

AND I KNOW NOTHING
ABOUT MOVIES."

CHE

In the end of the 60s,

with the Mitchel camera that
Che Guevara talked about,

they shot "Stories
of the Revolution,"

by Tom�s Guti�rrez Alea,
also known as Tit�n,

the main Cuban filmmaker.

That was ICAIC and its
young filmmakers

recreating, in the cinema,
the revolutionary struggle.

That was the beginning
of our cinema.
Founder and ex-president of ICAIC

The days of its foundation.

We all felt

we were founding it
and having a chance

to do cinematography.

In Havana and throughout
the entire republic,

an excited audience shows up

at the premiere of
"Stories of the Revolution,"

the first revolutionary
Cuban movie produced

by the Cuban Institute on
Cinematographic Arts and Industry.

We were very connected
with the neorealist movement,

especially with Cesar Zavatini,

with the French Nouvelle Vague
because we needed help.

We looked for it everywhere.

Let everybody come.
Let them all be different

and that nobody labels us.

At this moment, the events
happening in Cuba

and the passion for
the revolution

call the attention
of intellectuals, artists

and filmmakers from all over
the world.

They arrived in Havana
to follow closely

and to film the whole
revolutionary process.

Chris Marker, Gerard Phillipe
came to visit us.

Joris Ivens
and Agn�s Varda came.

It was a moment
when everybody

was moving towards hope,

a new possibility of life
and changes.

Those were unforgettable days.

In the beginning of the 60s,

the Cuban Revolution was
going through a period

of great excitement and
popular participation.

Everything and everyone
was changing completely

It was the effort of a people
to conquer underdevelopment.

Those were special days.

It was a moment,

a unique time in history.

A period of dreams, a period

of excitement,
of a renewing passion.

All projects were being planned:

human, social,

emotional.

There were many changes.
There were many illusions.

People were willing to work and
had hopes for a better world.

Of putting an end to old concepts,
of improving everything.

It was the integration of races.

There was quite excitement
and real things.

The first years were like a
party, something new.

It was a great time for us,

although things were
becoming scarce.

But those were hard times too.

And also very grim.

Cuba and the United States
broke off diplomatic relations.

It was the climax of the Cold War
and of the revolutionary advance.

The way things were
speeding up,

the island seemed to be
in the eye of a huge hurricane.

At this moment,

the Cubans find support
and sympathy far away,

on the other side
of the planet.

As the Americans leave
the island,

the Soviet Union gets closer,

offering total support
for the revolution.

Under the Marxism
Leninism flags.

Nikita Khrushchev
Soviet Premier

Yuri Gagarin
World's First Cosmonaut

Those were times when
new friends appeared,

while others disappeared.
Founder an ex-president of ICAIC

The relationship with the USSR

was beginning,

and we had no experience
in relation to it.

Our only purpose was the advance
of the Cuban cinema.

CO-PRODUCTIONS WITH
SOCIALISTS COUNTRIES

The president of the
Cuban Institute

on Cinematographic Arts
and Industry,

Alfredo Guevara, welcomes
Soviet artists and directors...

In 1961, came to Havana

a workgroup from the Cinema State
Commission of the Soviet Union.

They intended to develop
an ambitious project:

show the world the epic
of the revolutionary struggle,

through their first
cinematographic co-production

between the two countries.

Two people far away
from each other

come together and get
to know each other

through its artistic aspirations.

They proposed to make a movie,

with no preconceived
or elaborated idea,

about its solidarity and friendship
with Cuba,

expressing how they sympathized
with the Cuban revolution.

They recommended

Kalatozov.

And through him we met

a team of collaborators that
was just extraordinary.

Alfredo called me. With him,
there were

Julio Garc�a Espinoza
and Sa�l Yelin.

I had just come to ICAIC.

I was supposed to help
and support them.

I was a type of advisor
Co-author of I AM CUBA

contributing with images,
knowledge of facts,

introducing the characters,
places and other things

to the Soviet crew,

which, I was told, was significant
and very important.

They had made movies, such as
"The cranes are flying,"

that won the Golden Lion
at Venice,

by Kalatozov and Urusevsky,
who I had heard of.

And that the poet Evtushenko
was also coming.

I had no references of him,
and I didn't know him.

I was told he was a very
important poet

and that I should support
everyone,

and provide them with images

and information elements.

THE CRANES ARE FLYING"

DIRECTOR: MIKHAIL KALATOZOV
PHOTOGRAPHY: SERGUEI URUSEVSKY

GOLDEN PALM"

Kalatozov, extremely moved,

arrives at Jose Marti Airport
in Havana.

Just like all filmmakers arriving
in Cuba at that time,

he and his crew, coming from the
remote and cold Soviet Union,

were surprised to watch closely
a tropical revolution,

in the heart
of the Caribbean.

We actually found ourselves

before a unique opportunity,

because right there
in Havana

was the best of the
Russian-Soviet intellectuals.

I'm not saying Kalatozov
was the greatest director,

but he connected us

to what was happening
at that time.

When we got there, we didn't
know much about the history,

about the culture, nor about
the language spoken in Cuba,

we only knew its location
on the map,

and it was a great surprise.

Operator in I AM CUBA

We were impressed because
the Cuban Revolution

seemed more human
than we had imagined.

We didn't know how
it had happened,

but we were told

it was a revolution
with a humanitarian profile

that had shed less
blood than other revolutions.

Then I began to think
differently,

but, at that time, we were
all amazed

at what we saw
on the streets:

girls dressed in military
uniforms

that were called "the milicianas."

And this seemed weird, because
there were none in Russia.

There were three key
people in the movie:

one of them was Kalatozov;

the other one was Urusevsky,
the director of photography,

and, many times,
the cameraman.

The third essential person
was Belka,

the assistant director

and Urusevsky's wife.

I think they came here
with a lot of naivet�,

a lot of romanticism

and a great will to accomplish
something,

but they thought they would
do something majestic.

They wanted to know and learn
about everything.

They had their own revolution
background.

And maybe they were measuring
the Cuban Revolution

with their own parameters,
although they talked about

something fresh, new, innovative.

They wanted to do
something majestic.

They didn't have
an established idea.

They want to create a screenplay.

They wanted to visit Cuba,

talk to all of us,
to other people,

to artists and writers.

They made a kind of

sketch of the island,
of its culture,

of the world they were going
to film.

But to understand the Caribbean

and the culture so distant
from their Slavic soul

was a great challenge
for the Soviets,

especially, for Kalatozov.

Kalatozov's behaviour
impressed me.

He'd stay in the car

looking through the window.

Even when I showed him
something extraordinary.

When I saw something
extraordinary,

I'd take him to see it.

He'd stay in the car. I thought:

"Does he see life this way?

From far away, from a comfortable
position?"

I said to L�zaro, the driver:

"This guy never gets
out of the car.

We show him interesting things,

and he doesn't even open the door."
He just sits comfortably

in the Cadillac.

That's when Enrique
did something radical:

he took Kalatozov
to the only place

where the Soviets could find,
in one night only,

the Cuban soul and roots.

- Oh, my God!
- This is wonderful!

Look what they're doing!
Look at how they dance.

It's witchcraft!

This is the Cuban culture,
the Caribbean culture!

We have to keep that forever
in our memories!

In October 1962,

after almost a year preparing
the movie,

a bombshell took the entire
crew by surprise.

The news that Soviet missiles
were installed in Cuban territory

leads the United States

to announce a naval blockade
of the island.

Cuba is the center
of a world crisis,

that nearly takes the two
superpowers

to a nuclear war.

Our fate, everybody's, the
revolutionaries', the patriots',

will be the same,

and all of us will win.

Homeland or death.

The events in October
had a deep effect in Kalatozov.

Like a modern Quixote,

he believed he wasn't just
making a movie,

but a great cinematographic
manifest

against the American aggression.

I'll make a movie in Cuba,

and that will be my answer,

and that of the whole
Soviet people,

against the naval blockade,

this cruel aggression of the
American imperialism!

Evtushenko, the most famous
poet of his generation,

was also convinced that the movie
they were making in Cuba

had to be a great epic poem,

to defend and show the Cuban
Revolution to the whole world.

They immediately called Enrique,
their main contact in Cuba,

to be the co-writer
of the script.

In the beginning, it was

like a labyrinth;

we didn't know where
to begin.

We began to talk, to debate,

and we thought of

splitting the movie
into many stories.

This was debated from the
very beginning.

And also giving
a certain emphasis

to the city,

to the city's life before
the revolution,

that is, everything
would be previous

to the revolution's triumph.

Cuban Dictator

In other instances,
we talked about

the students struggle; I showed

images from the newsreels

and documentaries,

showing young people bringing
down the Cuban flag

at the University's park.

We exchanged things.

I showed Evtushenko my text,

and he showed me his;
or we worked separately.

It was a give-and-take
the whole time.

An exchange in which Kalatozov

made the choices, but I noticed

that his choices were
more literal

than Urusevsky's choices,
and that fascinated me,

it was more subjective,

more directed to the atmosphere
and the image.

Each one of the photos
and the newsreels

that Enrique showed
to Kalatozov and Urusevsky

later became a new reality,

idealized and completely
stylized by the Soviets.

The student's situation,
the students' work

and the danger of being young
during a dictatorship

were very familiar to me.

I had experienced that

and, in a particular moment,
I had also been a victim

of those circumstances.

It was exciting to take
the experience I had

to an artistic happening,
to a movie.

CUBAN AND INTERNATIONAL
NEWS

Mikhail Kalatozov, director of
"The Cranes are Flying,"

and "The Letter That Was
Never Sent,"

and Sergei Urusevsky, director
of photography of both movies,

are producing today
in our country,

the first Cuban-Soviet
co-production:

"I am Cuba."

On the first day of shooting,
I turned 20,

February 26th, 1963.

I remember it very well
because of 2 things:

the beginning of the shooting,

which was something to remember,

and my 20th birthday,
a day to remember too.

During the shooting

of "I am Cuba," I also turned 21.

The shooting took a long time.
I think it was

the longest shooting

of a feature movie in Cuba.

I was a sound technician.
The film has four stories.

Actor in SOY CUBA

They found the actors

for the stories 1, 2 and 4.

Enrique was missing.

Enrique was the student.

They couldn't find Enrique.

We began to shoot the stories
that had actors.

And Enrique was still missing.

There was a translator
in the movie

called P. Grusko.

There were many in a staff
of more than 100.

He told me he had
the idea to say:

"Why don't they cast Ra�l?"

The audition was the scene,

that is, I'd say the text of the
Alma Mater on the stairs,

that was the hardest part.

I'm Cuba.

Man when he is born,
he has two ways.

Corre para o sucesso.

It's going to be
a hard way.

It'll be done with blood.

We met many actors by chance.
Operator in I AM CUBA

In the hotel elevator,
Jean de Bouise,

whom we had invited to our movie,
and he accepted it.

A young man, who was
a cameraman,

played the student Enrique.

The girl with the clapboard

also played a part in the movie.

Everybody, even the carpenter
Juan Varona,

played a small part
in the movie.

Everyone we saw

could end up acting in the movie.

A character that I met almost
by chance in this story

was Belka Frizmann,
Kalatozov's assistant

and Urusevsky's wife.

She was crucial for the
accomplishment of "I am Cuba."

She was another link between
the Soviets and the island.

She tried really hard
to communicate

and understand Cuba
and the Cubans.

That's why she was in charge
of finding actors for the movie.

Have you ever kissed anyone?

Do you want to try?

I was at Habana Libre's
cafeteria,

when a lady approached me.

I looked awful, my hair
was greasy,

I was a mess.

She approached me and said:
Actress in I AM CUBA

"Would you like to make a movie?"

I stared at her and said: "Me?

With this greasy hair?"

She gave me the room number,

they were in a hotel room

and they invited me
for an audition.

I did it, and they liked me.

Including the photographer...
What's his name?

He began to draw a picture
of me, he was a painter.

I posed, while he drew
my picture,

it thrilled with me.

I remember Kalatozov
really well.

He said: "Maria, Maria, be wild,

show me some attitude:
your sadness, your distress."

That's how I felt him.

Watching myself now,
it makes me really sad.

That character had a lot to do
with me.

That's why when Kalatozov
saw me, he took me right away.

Kalatozov was a very
focused man,
Actor in SOY CUBA

very calm,

very observant,
like all directors.

But some directors observe

and move around because
they're restless.

But not him. He was steady.

He would sit down and stay sit

and direct from there.

He had something else
peculiar to himself:

his eyes were penetrating.

He used to study us.

He took x-rays of our thoughts
through his eyes.

Kalatozov was

a unique director

of our visual culture,

because when he was young,
he was a cameraman.

But everybody forgot that.

And he made two
wonderful movies.

One called "Nail in the Boot"

and another called
"Salt for Svanetia."

For the communist
There are no obstacles.

Watching those movies, it's easy
to notice a deep analogy

between Kalatozov's movies,

that were made in the late 20s

and "I am Cuba,"
made in the 60s.

SALT FOR SVANETIA, 1930.
DIRECTION: MIKHAIL KALATOZOV

Between the Georgian
cold mountains

and the Caribbean beaches,

30 years had passed
in Kalatozov's life.

Neither his age, nor the
tropical hot weather,

or the cultural difference
would be a hindrance

to his obsession of making
that movie in Cuba.

Everyday the crew became
more and more impressed

with his ability to work.

It was through each one
of those pictures

that I found out that Kalatozov

was one of the true giants
in this story,

More than a giant, a mammoth!

At that moment, the soviets
discovered in Cuba

what was left of the Capitalism
they never knew.

Seeing a luxury hotel,

with those beautiful girls
in the pool,

was a type of tropical
erotic pleasure.

At that time, it wasn't known.

I thought it was naive

to search for an eroticism
that they normally
Music Composer of I AM CUBA

avoided in their movies.

But they found it
in the Caribbean

and said it was the sequence
of the sin,

the Caribbean erotic sin.

When I arrived at the house of
the composer Carlos Fari�as

he was trying to play one
of the themes of the movie.

At first, I thought time had had
no mercy on the musician.

I was wrong.

This song was planned

by Kalatozov

for a popular character,

a popular troubadour.

Enrique Pi�eda and I had to
compose a song for him.

The choice of an actor for the
character hadn't been made yet.

Enrique and I composed a song,

and, to our surprise,
a few days later,

we found out that Kalatozov
had already shot the sequence

with someone they picked up
on the street.

When we watched those images
for the first time,

we noticed he couldn't play
neither the guitar nor sing.

Kalatozov chose him for
the image he offered.

The old man was sitting.

He couldn't sing, and could
hardly talk.

Then he told Fari�as and myself
that we had to compose a song

that would be put in the old
man's mouth.

We had to make up a song,

working with a Moviola,
which was crazy,

trying to get the phonemes out
of it,

and then, trying to get
the right beat

and write lyrics that
made sense.

That would be a romantic song,
sad but cheerful;

sad but optimistic; Cuban
but universal;

nostalgic but contemporary.

Then we did a new work,

new lyrics and beat.

Carlos made the song,

they edited it, and it was
put in the old man's mouth.

We finally made a song
in those horrible conditions.

It's the end of the spontaneous,
sweet and sad song

that the black man sings,

and it was included,
for good, in my repertory.

I named it "Sad Song" because
of its sad tone and story.

Today is a contemporary classic
of guitar music,

called "Sad Song"
by Carlos Fari�as.

I remember I was surprised

at the attention they paid
to the lights.

I'd say light played a main
role in this movie.

Their concern with
the locations, the light,

the movements
of the camera were

extraordinarily meticulous.

This is what I remember.

On one occasion,
for almost three days,

we just sat here in Caba�a,

waiting for some clouds
to show up.
Grip in I AM CUBA

But what happened was
that for three days,

the sky was clear, cloudless.

And the whole staff waiting.

And Urusevsky, with his
composure, calmly said:

"A sky without clouds
isn't interesting".

He really liked the sky
with clouds.

With a clear sky, he didn't
film anything.

When he needed a background
with special characteristics,
Camera assistant
in I AM CUBA

that is, a background
with a lot of presence,

bright and complex,

he stayed away from the
cameras for a while,

covered his eyes

to dilate the pupil
as much as possible.

That allowed him, when he
held the camera,

when he looked through
the viewfinder,

to have a brighter view
of the image

than if he did it any other way.

He only had work in his mind.

He was constantly thinking
of his movie.

I think that he looked
at one scene

and thought

of the black-and-white
resulting scene.

For Urusevsky,

the photography of the movie
should synthesize Cuba.

It should print, on each
photogram,

the same sparkle you see
in a sugar crystal,

transforming the green
of the palm trees

and of the sugar canes
into a silver tone.

To capture
the Caribbean light,

he ended up using
the infrared negative,

a material, during that time,
that was restricted to the use

of the soviet army.

It took me a few months to go
from Moscow to the city

where the negative was made.

It was made in a factory

that produced military material.

It was made in the same factory

that made negatives for shooting
the other side of the moon,

because the infrared has
a strong visual effect,

which is hard to control.

The trick here is that the
negative is panchromatic,

and a few chemicals
are added to it

making it more sensitive

to the infrared light.

In addition to infrared,

Urusevsky also brought
from Moscow

the technology and tradition
of the Soviet cinema

still unknown
to the Western World.

He didn't want to save
any efforts,

nor a negative to make
a unique film,

a great visual poem
of love for Cuba,

idealized by Kalatozov,
Evtushenko and Enrique.

I'm Cuba.

Sometimes I think...

There was a great excitement
towards the work

and a lot of collaboration.

It was a country that came
here to film.

Imagine us...

I didn't know the first thing
about cinema!

"I can tell you about the falls,

Head of construction in I AM CUBA

the cascade, the waterfall."

And he said to me: "Luis,

not there"

"And what do you want?," I said.

"There's no water here."

I told him it was impossible.

He said: "No, it isn't."
"All right, then," I said.

Then we all worked together
carrying wood

until the water began to fall
where he wanted.

Why?

Because there was a scene where
the sun hit the camera,

hit the camera.

That's when he got
what he wanted.

He told me: "Luis,

man can anything."

But it was a very hard movie

in relation to work.

Whenever Urusevsky
asked for something,

it was awful.

Each scene we filmed was
like a battle,

Each scene we
filmed was a combat,

as if we were preparing
for a small revolution,

when we filmed each scene.

With an ax,
in a hand-to-hand combat,

he was able to disarm
the soldier.

He already had a rifle,

he pulled the trigger
and began to shoot.

He didn't know how many
times he shot

nor the number of bullets he had.

He just shot the enemy,

in front of the enemy,

always against the enemy,

until I got here.

Right here, the pyrotechnists
had made a trail.

Side by side, there were
twelve bombs.

Look, that was horrible!

There were twelve
enormous bombs.

I crossed everything.

When I finally got to the end,

the entire Soviet and Cuban
crews were waiting for me.

The pyrotechnist jumped on me,

to make sure I wasn't wounded.

Well, it was a relief

to come out uninjured,

and, on top of all, it was
a one-shot scene.

Another great scene is

when the rebellion's
army comes,
Grip in I AM CUBA

after the revolution triumph.

There are 5,000 soldiers.

Imagine when Urusevsky
asked for 5,000 soldiers!

"Where can we find
5,000 soldiers?"

And Kalatozov said:
"I need 5,000 soldiers."

They had to talk to Ra�l Castro.

And they got 5,000 soldiers
coming from

different military bases
in the Oriente province.

Removing 5,000 soldiers
from the Oriente province

meant leaving it unprotected.

Then, over the radio,

they would warn, wherever
the troops passed by,

that it was a movie.

Because that was the beginning
of the revolution.

People would think we were
fighting again

because of the troops.

The most notorious scenes

in this movie,

such as the student's funeral,

or the tobacco factory scene,

or the oppression of the
students protest,

or the opening scene
of the movie,

in a skyscraper's penthouse,

where the camera comes down
to the pool,

they were hard to shoot,

and the scenes were repeated
many times,

to obtain good quality.

We filmed this movie,
as everybody knows,

during 2 years; that's why
every day

we rehearsed and repeated
the scenes.

We knew we could make
the movie in twelve weeks,

in eight weeks;

and that twelve, fourteen weeks
were already too much.

Fourteen months was outrageous.

After 14 months shooting
the movie,

thousands of feet of negatives

and an inestimable fortune
in rubles,

finally the saga of the Cuban
Revolution

was recreated in its best
socialist realistic style.

The result of this adventure
is 140 minutes

of unique images
of the cinema history.

This is Radio Rebelde,

broadcasting from the mountains
of Oriente, in Sierra Maestra,

free Cuban territory.

Kalatozov and the whole
soviet crew left the island

certain that the effort
wouldn't be in vain.

For two years, they did
their best

to make that movie.

Soon the whole world
would see the results

of the collaboration between
the two nations

in the construction of Socialism.

Freedom or death.

Or death.

Urusevsky and Kalatozov

had great influence

on the Soviet cinematography,

which allowed them to do
all those things.

They were allowed to do things
in Cuba that maybe

no other crew
would be allowed.

If you only knew...
I'll be honest, I don't remember

the premiere of "I am Cuba."

It's lost in time. That's life!

Now I remember, the premiere
was in Santiago de Cuba.

In Santiago de Cuba.

I just remembered it. Just now.

The Cuban-Soviet co-production
"I am Cuba"

opens at Teatro Cuba, and
simultaneously in Moscow,

showing other 5 Cuban movies.

THE END

It was awful!

The first thing that bothered me

was that voice, that text:

"I am Cuba."

And the melodramatic

and exaggerated structure,
in general terms, of the movie.

That really bothered me.

I felt responsible and guilty
before all that.

It was a horrible feeling.
And painful, at the same time,

to think that it was made
with so much hard-work,

sacrifice, and love.

Production secretary in
I AM CUBA

I didn't really like it.

I didn't really like it.

Sometimes I had the feeling
they wanted

to show a reality that wasn't
exactly real.

I also think the photography
was above the script.

A director can be the movie's
photographer and author.

But I can't accept that Urusevsky
was the movie's author.

I can't accept that the image

was more important
than the content.

The image must be subordinated
to the content

and to the director.

And this is a photographer
saying that.

But this level of participation,

this level of evidence
in the movie,

has hurt the movie.

Kalatozov gives it an epic,
poetic tone,

that in my opinion wasn't good,

talking about historical facts
of the Sierra, the university,

the land.

Maybe we didn't understand
his personality.

He certainly didn't
understand ours.

In my opinion,

the timing of the Soviet
cinema of the time,

the timing

of the scenes

when, for example, the student
walks around with a rock

to throw it at the police captain,

who was an assassin,

the timing is delayed, slow,

continuous, sustained,
never-ending.

This is not the Cuban
temperament.

The Cuban temperament

is different from the Soviet's.

Each people has its own
idiosyncrasy,

its own way of feeling,

its own way of reacting,
its timing

before different
situations in life.

People said: "This is
not our reality.

This character doesn't exist,
it isn't Cuban."

They said it was the Cuban reality

seen through a Slavic prism.

We were much closer,
do you know to whom?

To an extraordinary movement
that was arising

in Brazil, which was
the Cinema Novo.

BLACK GOD, WHITE DEVIL"
DIRECTION: GLAUBER ROCHA

We were much more interested
in what was going on in Brazil,

including the lack of resources,

than in the Soviet cinema.

AM I CUBA?
YES OR NO?

The Cuban press, instead of
calling the movie

"I am Cuba," they called it
"I am not Cuba."

The party newspaper
wrote an article,

that my friends sent to me
in Moscow,

in which, a merciless critic
humiliated the movie,

saying how the cameramen
and their dancing cameras

represented scenes
from a circus,

and that wasn't interesting
for the Cubans.

The common spectator,
as they said in Russia,

didn't understand why this move
was made.

That's why they only showed it
for one week.

They didn't like it, neither
in Cuba nor in Russia.

In Moscow, people were
afraid of this movie,

because it was too idealistic

and showed
to the Soviet people

episodes of the American life
in Cuba,

which they didn't want
to show on Soviet screens.

That's why the movie
failed here and there,

And it was filed.

One copy at ICAIC in Cuba
and another in the USSR.

The dream of Kalatozov
and Urusevsky to disclose

and advertise the Cuban
Revolution in the whole world

is abandoned by Cubans
and Soviets themselves.

"I am Cuba" was beginning
to fall into oblivion.

It was impossible for us,
at the time,

to know what was circulating
in the Soviet Union,

which was a very
secretive country.

But in Cuba there were
no limitations for the movie.

You never know.

Sometimes you'd better not know

why certain things are filed.

It's sad

when you don't know

why certain things are forgotten.

When I watch it again,
I'll remember

fascinating things, but I think,

that, in artistic terms,

I wouldn't really think
of getting it out of the files,

maybe to exhibit it
in a historic event

to show certain things.

HAVANA
EARLY 90'S

In the beginning of the 90s,

with the fall of the Berlin Wall

and the dissolution
of the Soviet Union,

the Russians withdrew from Cuba,
after 30 years of collaboration.

The economy of the
island collapses.

The lack of oil,

the continuous blackouts

and the lack of a perspective
for the future

slowly destroy the last Utopian
dream of an era.

The revolution idealized
and recreated

by Kalatozov and Urusevsky
in "I am Cuba"

was only part of the memory
of a distant past.

As if the movie got mixed up

with the Cuban Revolution,

and both would end up on the same
stormy waters of the destiny.

But it's exactly
at this very moment,

as one of destiny's
greatest irony,

that American producers
and filmmakers

become fascinated as they watch
the movie for the 1st time.

And immediately
decide to recover

the negatives
of "I am Cuba" in Moscow.

Finally, the saga of the
Cuban Revolution

is seen, in the Western World,
30 years later,

overwhelming the world critics

and a whole generation
of young filmmakers.

When I received the news,

it was like someone telling me

that a distant missing relative

had been found

under a defrost in Alaska.

It was like

finding a lost object.

It was really weird.

This movie was recovered from
the back of a bottom drawer,

where it was covered
with naphthalene

and it was given a new life.

This happened in the beginning
of the 90s.

They gave it a new path and,
in this beginning,

the green light was given by
two names:

Scorsese and Coppola,

Scorsese told me

that if he had seen the movie
when he was young,

in the beginning of his career

and of his activities
as a filmmaker,

he would have been a different
director today.

I began to question myself.

I began to wonder if the movie
was good.

"What happened to the movie?"
They said it wasn't good,

but now they say it is.
Why has it come out?

Are they studying anything?

the time, Cuba...

I asked myself many questions.
I was happy.

I'll pretend I'm reading it,
but I'm not.

Read it properly!

Spectacular.

Is this the whole movie?

I never thought this would happen.

My goodness!

But I was even more
surprised when

I found out that
the actors and crew

that had worked in "I am Cuba,"

didn't know about
the rediscovery,

the revival of the movie.

And that work so despised
at the time

today is considered a classic
of the world cinema.

Martin Scorsese is involved in it.

Interesting.

They are fascinated.

They are amazed at a cinema

that they had never
imagined before.

I think

that they are exaggerating
a little bit

in terms of the critics.

For years, the so called
Western World,

and we are more Western
than Eastern,

Music Composer of I AM CUBA

criticized brutally the Socialist
realism.

The academicism of the Socialist
realist painting was criticized.

Until one American critic

began to praise the Socialist
realism.

The greatest works of the Socialist
realism were brought

to American museums
after the Communism

no longer represented a threat.

This has to do

with the dialectic of the
economical interests.

Finding a hotshot of the
Russian plastic art,

unknown and hidden from
the capitalist world.

After working on this documentary
for a while,

I met again with Juan Varona.

40 years later, I noticed
he had the same excitement

of when he worked
with Sergei Urusevsky

for 14 months
during I Am Cuba shooting.

He told me about the influence
that film

had on the future of the
Cuban cinema.

I gained so much experience
in the movie "I am Cuba,"

and that helped me
all this time

I've been working with movies.

When I did "I am Cuba,"
I wasn't 30 years old yet.

Now I'm turning 66.

Whenever you work on
a foreign co-production,

the experience stays:

the one they gain from us and
the one we gain from them.

I think that,

from my point of view,

"I am Cuba" was a landmark
in the Cuban cinema.

After"I am Cuba,"

the Cuban photographers working
as directors of photography

in feature movies and
documentaries

began to work with the camera
in their hands.

One example is Jorge Herrera,

the photographer of "Luc�a,"

the first movie by Humberto Sol�s,
and "Manuela."

Even without people's recognition,

the Cuban cinema and the
Latin American cinema

owe great scenes of honor,
memories,

or reminiscence, or influence

to Sergei Urusevsky's camera.

We can see this in the
classic images

of "The First Charge of the
Machete," of "Luc�a,"

of many other Cuban movies
and Brazilian movies,

Glauber's...

We owe this magnificence
to the cinema,

to Sergei Urusevsky's images,
that were pure poetry.

After Sergei's death,
Belka came to Cuba

bringing some of his paintings

that were shown at Pabell�n Cuba.

I was really moved when I saw
his exhibition.

When she saw me,
she hugged me

and said to me crying:

"Sergio is not with us."

She said: "Sergio is not with us."

That made me really sad.

Urusevsky, the other mammoth
in this story,

died in 1974, one year after
Kalatozov.

He spent his last years upset
about the failure of "I am Cuba."

Belka died not long
after her husband,

not knowing that Caribbean
adventure

one day would be recognized,

and that everything
they did for 2 years

had actually been worthwhile.

So many colleagues that,
like me, had participated

in this movie deserve
to know this.

We, the survivors, because time

plays its role.

For those who had the privilege
of participating in this movie

and after almost 40 years,

to receive this recognition
is really moving.

I thank you with all my heart.

For me and my family,

this is a patrimony
of inestimable value.

MOSCOW
END OF THE 60's

From the creative group,
the closest ones alive

are Evtushenko, who is travelling
in the United States,

but I don't know exactly where,

because I haven't seen him
since those days,

and Sacha.

He and I try to communicate.

We never saw each other again,

but we communicate through email

and friends that bring us
news from each other.

When I left,

those were the saddest moments,

the saddest days.

When I left Cuba and
came back home,

it should have been the other
way around.

When I went back to Russia,
I was so "cubanized"

that I wouldn't go out,
I stayed home,

because nothing interested me.

I haven't seen Sacha in
approximately 40 years.

Hopefully I'll see the same boy

I saw 40 years ago.

As a result of the search
for people

who worked in "I am Cuba,"

I ended up meeting
Sacha Calzatti,

who with his daughter Natasha,
went back to Cuba 37 years later.

He was invited to teach
Photography

at the International
Cinema School.

How white!

I dyed it.

Yes, I think "I am Cuba"
changed my destiny,

seven years after returning
from Cuba,

I migrated to the west.

That shows the importance
of living in Cuba for 2 years.

It was really important
for my life, my story.

I'll always be grateful to him

- for this opportunity,
- thanks, Vicente!

No, it was the destiny.

This is the end of the story,

the adventure of Cubans
and Soviets

that lived together for
more than 2 years

to make the movie "I am Cuba,"

Now, in a retrospective,

we can see and assert emphatically

that it had no influence upon us.

That doesn't mean we don't see

with a certain nostalgia
and affection

the effort made by that group
of Soviet intellectuals

to get closer to Cuba,

to discover with a loving
vision the Cuban reality.

If they understood us or not,
it doesn't matter.

I only know that, at that time,

they were trying to support us.

And today the fact that other
people rediscovered the movie

fascinates me.

But it also makes me reflect:

when the movie was
a necessary support,

it was ignored;

when it's an archaeological piece,
it is recovered.

Seeing people

from different cultures
and generations

valuing the movie

is really surprising
and delightful.

It's a "delightful dish"
to meet life again

and be recognized,
even it it's late.

There are fossils searched by
cinepaleonthologists

and cinematographic fossils
that just turns up miraculously.

Soy Cuba' is one them, since it
has been an unexpected encounter

like a preserved Siberian mammoth
in the sands of a tropical island.

Soy Cuba is a Bolshevik
hallucination"

It was

a smart action,

that of looking for,

after the fall of the
Berlin Wall,

above any ideological
or political differences,

great artists and great
masterpieces.

We have to show and recover them

for the history of humanity.

The same way"I am Cuba"
has emerged,

tons of other movies
must also emerge,

because those masterpieces
are there.

In time, the governor that
were in power, will be forgotten;

but the masterpieces that remain
will be remembered.