Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos

The Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográficos ICAIC ( Cuban Institute of Film Art and Film industry ) was created on 24 March 1959 shortly after the Cuban Revolution, by the first culture law of the new government.

The law states that programmatically: "Film is art." This detachment from the almost exclusively Cuban commercial film productions before the revolution of 1959 was committed. The first employees of ICAIC were mostly members of the Cuban revolutionary movement M -26- 7th

While in the 1960s next few films mainly documentaries, shorts and educational films were produced since the 1970s increasingly elaborate full-length feature films were made with a very unique style that won major international film art prices to some extent.

At the beginning of the 1990s the ICAIC came in the wake of the Cuban economic crisis under massive financial pressure and could barely turn his own films. Cuban films from this period were made possible with debt financing, especially from Spain, but often also fit the needs of their funders to. Many film-makers left Cuba in order to continue to produce movies.

After the turn of the millennium was created on the basis of the consolidated economic conditions start a new cuban filmmaking with young directors. Films such as La vida es silbar ( Life, a whistle ) or Suite Habana are linked to the traditions of post-revolutionary Cuban cinema, but operate with considerably own new content and formal impulses.

2009, the negative of the ICAIC were included in the UNESCO Memory.

A few months after the death of its founder and longtime director of the ICAIC, Alfredo Guevara, has been appointed psychologist and former deputy Roberto Smith as the new President of the Film Institute in August 2013.

Known Cuban directors (selection)

  • Santiago Álvarez
  • Octavio Cortázar
  • Sara Gómez
  • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
  • José Massip
  • Juan Padrón
  • Fernando Pérez
  • Humberto Solás
  • Juan Carlos Tabío
  • Daniel Díaz Torres
  • Pastor Vega

Known Cuban Films (selection )

Musical experiments

For the development of the genre Nueva Trova crucial was the creation of the Grupo de experimentacion Sonora (Group for Tonexperimente ) of ICAIC 1969 under the direction of Leo Brouwer. Task of this group was actually the production of film music, in fact, they evolved into a musical home for young artists with independent record label and great independence. Among the members were:

  • Silvio Rodríguez
  • Pablo Milanes
  • Noel Nicola
  • Sara González
  • Eduardo Ramos
  • Emiliano Salvador
  • Sergio Vitier
  • Pablo Menéndez
  • Leoginaldo Pimentel
  • Leonardo Acosta
  • Carlos Averof
  • Norberto Carrillo
  • Genaro G. Caturla
Short film Fictional film The Adventures of Juan Quin Quin A Successful Man Hello Hemingway Strawberry and Chocolate Lista de Espera Film score
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