Alea, Tomas Gutierrez

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was a Cuban film maker who was a visionary activist of post-revolutionary Cuba in the 1960s-1970s and helped create a new wave of film making known collectively as the 'New Latin American Cinema' which focused largely on the problems surrounding cultural identity. He is known for his probing insights into the social, political and economical state of the country as well as his dedication to the revolutionary movement.

Born in Havana on December the 11th, 1928, Gutiérrez was raised in a comfortable enviroment of an affluent home. He studied law and graduated with a degree in 1951 but his interests had turned to film making and he enrolled to study cinema for a further three years at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. Here, he became heavily influenced by the Italian movement of Neorealism and it was around this time that he made his first attempts at film making.

Back in Cuba the revolution lead by Fidel Castro was successfully under way and was supported so strongly by Gutiérrez and several other of his colleagues that they created the 'Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográphicos' (ICAIC), a body of film makers which believed that cinema was the most modern and influential art form and the best medium to raise awareness of the revolution to the masses. Although focusing mainly on making documentaries the ICAIC evolved later on to make full length feature films. Gutiérrez was a key member and made the first of these documentaries 'Esta Tierra Nuestra' (This Land Of Ours) as well as the first film 'Historias de la Revolución' (Stories Of The Revolution) (1960), ICAIC's first fiction film, and Doce sillas (Twelve Chairs), (1962).

Gutiérrez first tasted success in 1966 when his film 'Muerte de un Burocrata' (Death of a Bureaucrat) was released. It was a comedic satire focusing on the frustrating Socialist bureaucracy of the time.

Next to come was what would be widely considered as Gutiérrez's masterpeice.
'Memorias del Subdesarrollo' (Memories of Underdevelopment) (1968) was ground breaking not only cinematicaly but also politically for it was the first film to be shown in America since the revelution. He uses his early documentary style in this film to depict a truthful snapshot into a bourgeois existence in a politically unstable Havana.

His stylistic aproach to many of his films harked back to the early pioneers in film making such as the Soviet film makers like Sergei Einstein whose jerky hand held camera work and agitated montage sequences contrasted by the extremely long unbroken shots made a deep impression on Gutiérrez, and all these stylistic signatures are clearly visible throughout his film contrasting strongly against the squeaky clean and smooth Hollywood films.

Throughout his later years Gutiérrez would divide his time into directing films and teaching a new generation of keen film makers at the ICAIC. Some of his later films included 'Una pelea cubana contra los demonios' (A Cuban Fight Against the Demons 1972) and 'La última cena' (The Last Supper 1976) and 'Fresa y Chocolate' (Strawberry and Chocolate) (1993).
Gutiérrez fell ill and on April 16, 1996 and died leaving behind a multitude of films and documentaries which capture social and political struggles balanced delicately with emotional ideals.


Filmography

La Caperucita Roja [1947]
El Fakir [1947]
Una Confusión Cotidiana [1950]
Il Sogno de Giovanni Bassain [1953]
El Mégano [1955]
La Toma de La Habana Por Los Ingleses [1958]
Esta Tierra Nuestra [1959]
Stories Of The Revolution (Historias de La Revolución) [1960]
General Assembly (Asamblea General) [1960]
Death To The Invader (Muerte Al Invasor) [1961]
Twelve Chairs (Las Doce Sillas) [1962]
Cumbite [1964]
Death Of A Bureaucrat (Muerte de un Burócrata) [1966]
Memories Of Underdevelopment (Memorias del Subdesarrollo) [1968]
Cuban Fight Against Demons (Una Pelea Cubana Contra Los Demonios) [1971]
El Arte Del Tabaco [1974]
Last Supper (La Ultima Cena) [1976]
One Way Or Another (De Cierta Manera) [1977]
The Survivors (Los Sobrevivientes) [1979]
Up to a Certain Point (Hasta Cierto Punto) [1983]
Letters From The Park (Cartas Del Parque) [1988]
Far Apart (Contigo En La Distancia) [1991]
Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry And Chocolate) [1993]
Guantanamera [1995]


Page content adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomas_Gutierrez_Alea