Comandante

Cuban Rafters

2002

The story of Cuban refugees who risked their lives in homemade rafts to reach the United States, and what life is like for those who succeed.

The Crazy Che

2015

The incredible story of Bill Gaede, an Argentinian engineer, programmer… and Cold War spy.

Looking for Fidel

2004

Oliver Stone's second documentary on/interview with Fidel Castro specifically addresses his country's recent crackdown on Cuban dissidents; namely, the execution of three men who hijacked a ferry to the United States.

Fidel: The Untold Story

2001

Documentary about Fidel Castro, covering 40 years of Cuban Revolution. Rare Fidel Castro footage: he appears swimming with a bodyguard, visiting his childhood home and school, playing with his friend Nelson Mandela, meeting kid Elián Gonzalez, and celebrating his birthday with the Buena Vista Social Club group.

Journal de Bolivie

2020

Operation Peter Pan: Flying Back to Cuba

2011

Between 1960 and 1962 more than 14,000 cuban children were sent alone by their parents to the USA. This clandestine operation -with the participation of the CIA and the Catholic Church- became known as "Operation Peter Pan". Many of the parents had expected to follow their children, who had been granted visa waivers by the US government, but the Missile Crisis terminated the flights between the two countries and the children found themselves stranded in the USA. In 2009, for the first time a group of the Peter Pan children, now adults visited Cuba to give "closure and make peace with the land where they were born".

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

2024

Jazz and decolonization are intertwined in a powerful narrative that recounts one of the tensest episodes of the Cold War. In 1960, the UN became the stage for a political earthquake as the struggle for independence in the Congo put the world on high alert. The newly independent nation faced its first coup d'état, orchestrated by Western forces and Belgium, which were reluctant to relinquish control over their resource-rich former colony. The US tried to divert attention by sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the African continent. In 1961, Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was brutally assassinated, silencing a key voice in the fight against colonialism; his death was facilitated by Belgian and CIA operatives. Musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach took action, denouncing imperialism and structural racism. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev intensified his criticism of the US, highlighting the racial barriers that characterized American society.

The Secret KGB JFK Assassination Files

1999

On Nov. 22, 1963 the world was shocked by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The mystery surrounding this history-changing event has led to many unanswered questions.

Sacrificio: Who Betrayed Che Guevara

2001

The two young Swedish journalist's Erik Gandini and Tarik Saleh have worked one year with Sacrificio, a film about the events surrounding the death of Che Guevara. They have traveled the world around and met among others the man who shot Che Guevara and the former CIA agent who walks around with Che's last tobacco in his pistol butt. In their attempts to find out what really happened they discover that the man who is accused of having betrayed Che Guevara as a matter of fact lives in Malmö, in the south of Sweden.

8A

1993

The Kafkaesque world of Cuba under Castro's rule is brought to light in this reconstruction of the 1989 trial and execution of General Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez, the highest-ranking general and hero of the revolution, and commander of the Angolan and Ethiopian campaigns.

Che Guevara: The making of an icon

2014

How does a politician – assassinated more than 50 years ago – gradually become a public figure? An extremely vibrant image which shows up where you least expect it. It served as figurehead for the Arab Spring revolutions, from Rabat to Sanaa, whereas we had thought it had been relegated to t-shirts and cigarette lighters. Why has this image become so universal that we are no longer surprised to find it in drawings, graffiti, tattoos and prints on all types of media in all sorts of contexts the world over? How can this image be used to advertise luxury automobiles and also be brandished angrily by indignant agitators? What is the formula that made this figure go viral? This documentary is a journey to investigate and decode a piece of iconography.

My Enemy's Enemy

2007

Reveals an alternate history of the post-war world. This is a version of history where, in contrast to what we are all told, fascist ideology prevailed. The story of Klaus Barbie, Nazi torturer, American spy, tool of repressive right-wing regimes, is symbolic of the real relationship that the "Western" governments had with fascism and makes us see the world as it is today - and the politicians that inhabit it - in a different way.

Island Ablazed

1961

Documentary recounting the story of the Cuban Revolution and its impact on the young people of Cuba.

Seguridad

2024

In her feature documentary Seguridad, Newfoundland-based filmmaker Tamara Segura—once named “Cuba’s youngest soldier” in a militia publicity stunt—portrays her troubled relationship with her father in the context of the Cuban Revolution. When Segura accepts a scholarship to study film in Canada, the move offers crucial distance from her alcoholic father. After four years, she returns to Cuba hoping to make amends. But her father’s sudden death just days after her arrival forces Segura to explore his troubled past and the role Cuba’s highly militarized system played in his downfall. Through a series of deeply personal on-camera interviews with her immediate family, Segura unearths long-held secrets that ultimately tell a story of resilience and profound love between family members. Seguridad artfully weaves a lifetime’s worth of still photographs into its intimate narrative, which offers a rare glimpse into the inner lives of Cubans in the post-revolutionary era.

American Comandante

2015

U.S. citizen William Morgan rises to power in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution.