The state of the arts in Cuba's capital city is examined in this documentary by American filmmakers Laurie Ann Schag and Casey Stoll. Cuban artists, filmmakers and musicians, including sculptor Pedro "Pulido" Gonzalez, performance artist Tania Bruguera, singer/songwriter Carlos Varela, and jazz musicians Ele Valdes and Carlos Alfonso, discuss their work and reveal their personal feelings toward Fidel Castro, the U.S. embargo against Cuba, and their country's political climate. Also, Cuban expatriate filmmaker Elio Ruiz looks at the large community of Cuban exiles throughout the world.
A revelation of staggering force, lyrically composed by one of the 20th century's leading poets, Forough Farrokhzad. Her first and only film, it depicts the lives and bodies of people tragically deformed by leprosy. A film of stirring and powerful images, and a beautifully, tragically poetic narration that heavily influenced the modern Iranian cinema of Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who called it "the best Iranian film." It provides, in the film's own words, "a vision of pain no caring human being should ignore." In Farsi with English subtitles.
Not to be confused with the Hollywood biopic, The Greatest (1977), this documentary by acclaimed photographer and filmmaker William Klein is a vibrant, intimate portrait of one of the greatest sports figures of modern times. The first portion, shot from 1964-65, covers the period of Ali's title fight and rematch with Sonny Liston, when he was still known as Cassius Clay. Klein later expanded the film to feature length by following the historic "Rumble in the Jungle" match against George Foreman in Zaire in 1974. Rather than highlight fight footage, Klein focuses on Ali and his era, with glimpses of such notables as Malcolm X, Norman Mailer and The Beatles. The changing nature of Ali's inner circle, the fighter's spiritual and political complexity, and the racial climate of the times are all brilliantly captured.
