I Am Cuba

I Am Cuba

Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov • 1964 • Cuba, Soviet Union
Starring Raquel Revuelta, Luz María Collazo, José Gallardo

Both a landmark of radical political cinema and one of the most visually ravishing films ever made, this legendary hymn to revolution shimmers across the screen like a fever dream of rebellion. The result of an extraordinarily ambitious collaboration between the Soviet and Cuban film industries, director Mikhail Kalatozov’s I AM CUBA unfolds in four explosive vignettes that capture Cuban life on the brink of transformation, as crushing economic exploitation and inequality give way to a working-class uprising. Backed by Carlos Fariñas’s stirring score, the dazzling camera work by Sergei Urusevsky—an inspiration for generations of filmmakers to follow—gives flight to the movie’s message of liberation.

I Am Cuba
  • I Am Cuba

    Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov • 1964 • Cuba, Soviet Union
    Starring Raquel Revuelta, Luz María Collazo, José Gallardo

    Both a landmark of radical political cinema and one of the most visually ravishing films ever made, this legendary hymn to revolution shimmers across the screen like a fever dream...

Extras

  • I AM CUBA Russian Dubbed Version

  • I Am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth

    The making of I AM CUBA was as epic in scope as the film itself. This 2004 documentary, directed by Vicente Ferraz, is a thorough exploration of that process, from the arrival of Soviet filmmakers Mikhail Kalatozov and Sergei Urusevsky in Havana to the movie’s years-long production—and tepid rece...

  • Bradford Young on I AM CUBA

    Cinematographer Bradford Young pays homage to the innovative aesthetics of I AM CUBA, and the lessons to be learned from its depiction of the revolutionary spirit, in this interview recorded in 2023.

  • Martin Scorsese on I AM CUBA

    Filmmaker Martin Scorsese discusses I AM CUBA, as well as his role in redistributing the movie in the United States decades after its original release, in this 2003 interview.