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Key West Art & Historical Society Film Series Continues at Custom House Museum with “I am Cuba”

Key West Art & Historical Society’s film series continues on Thursday, March 16 at 6:00 p.m. in the Helmerich Research & Learning Center at the Custom House Museum, 281 Front Street with “Soy Cuba” (I am Cuba) a Cuban-Soviet co-production filmed following the Cuban missile crisis as an anti-American propaganda film, which has been described as “a visual masterpiece.”

With actors Luz Maria Collazo, Jose Gallardo, Sergio Corrieri, Mario Gonzalez Broche, Jean Bouise, Raul Garcia and Celia Rodriguez, “I am Cuba” consists of four vignettes, each illustrating an individual component of the Cuban revolution. Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov, co-written by world-renowned Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Cuban novelist Enrique Pineda Barnet, with cinematography by Sergei Urusevsky, “I am Cuba” was shot in high contrast black & white and also with infrared film acquired from East German labs. The film is widely lauded for its daring camera work, called “jaw-dropping,” “spectacular,” and “gravity-defying,” and all executed in a time before steadicams existed.

141 minutes, in Spanish and Russian with English subtitles, “I am Cuba” was selected by Society board member and cineaste Michael Shields to compliment the March 9 KWAHS Distinguished Speaker Series presentation by Fidel Castro’s daughter, Alina Fernandez.

Made possible in part by the generosity of the Helmerich Trust, the Key West Art & Historical Society film series is curated by Society board member and cineaste Michael Shields, who offers “films that expand our vistas and give us fresh views of our home.” Tickets for the event can be purchased online kwahs.org/education/filmseries:  $5 for members, $10 for non-members.  For more information about this and other programs, please contact Adele Williams, Director of Education, at 305-295-6616, ext. 115.  Your Museums.  Your Community.  It takes an Island.

Photo Caption:

Martin Scorsese described “I am Cuba” as “…that rarity of rarities, a genuine hidden treasure.” The film is set to screen Thursday, March 16 at 6:00 p.m. in the Helmerich Research & Learning Center at the Custom House Museum.