The films selected for this program represent the best of Cuba's filmmaking since the Revolution: energetic editing and beautiful cinematography combine to bring to light some of the most insightful dramas and documentaries about a most extraordinary society and its people. Located as the films are in the historical and cultural reality of Cuban society since 1959, their images, story and wit reflect the hopes and dreams of innumerable people beyond Cuba's borders. Although films had been made in Cuba since the beginning of the 20th century, it was not until the founding of ICAIC that a cinema independent of commercial demands and American interests could be created. ICAIC was the first cultural institution to be created by the revolutionary government. It gave particular attention to historical themes, especially those of the recent heroic struggle. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, one of its founding talents, took on the task of narrating some of these episodes in the 1960 film Historias de la revolución (Stories of the Revolution). Alea and his colleagues rejected Hollywood's influence and methods, sought a contemporary form of artistic expression, were disposed to assimilate experimental and anti-commercial tendencies, acknowledged a debt to the European avant-garde, and had their heads full of dreams. The energy and commitment of ICAIC's early members paved the way for development of what is widely recognized as one of the most vital and interesting national cinemas.

Even the most overtly political of the documentaries, such as the classic NOW!, present material with an edge of humour. There is a long tradition of irony, a certain type of satire, and black humour, with Gutiérrez Alea's work at the forefront, beginning with Las doce sillas (The Twelve Chairs, 1962) and La muerte de un burócrata (The Death of a Bureaucrat, 1966), it was reaffirmed in Los sobrevivientes (The Survivors, 1978). This caustic humour would re-emerge in Strawberries and Chocolate and Guántanamera. Afro-Cuban directors such as Sara Gómez and Sergio Giral made films in the 1970s that worked with themes of social marginalization, machismo, black history and its contemporary reality. The new generation, many of whom joined efforts on La mujer transparente, have taken up the challenge with new stylistic force.

At that time, Cuba had no true film industry and lacked film directors, writers and the full range of technical personnel. ICAIC's initial activities focused on two objectives: creating a national cinema and promoting the creation of a more informed film audience. ICAIC can therefore be considered the birthplace of contemporary Cuban cinema, as well as the training ground for most, if not all, of its filmmakers.

One of the most visible achievements of the Institute is the annual Festival of New Latin-American Cinema, which is enthusiastically attended, in Havana, by both Cuban and foreign film buffs.

Tomas Gutiérrez Alea was Cuba's most internationally renowned filmmaker, with some 15 films to his credit before his death in 1995. His final film was Guántanamera, which he co-directed with his longtime colleague and collaborator, Juan Carlos Tabío. This graceful, comic-romantic road movie is about a group of friends and relatives accompanying the body of a famous diva on a journey across Cuba to her final resting place in Havana. As the members of the procession work their way through layers of bureaucracy and miles of road, a relationship develops between a politically active teacher (the deceased's niece) and her former student, a much younger truck driver. While passion builds between the two, the dead diva's humourless, bureaucrat son-in-law tries to keep track of the occasionally mislaid body as it is transferred from vehicle to vehicle at each district border.