Prior to the Revolution, Cuba had been a leading Latin American producer of commercial radio and television and a leading consumer of Hollywood movies (Chanan, 1997, p. 33). After its establishment in 1959, ICAIC emphasized on documentary filmmaking as one of the its principal activities. Documentary film and fictional production were expected to apply new thinking and to experiment with revolutionary aesthetics, engaging the audience in a way that reflected the new social order (Lopez, 1992). Fictional and documentary filmmaking in ICAIC were intertwined, sharing concerns, themes, and formal strategies. In fiction and documentary film production, there were two central themes: history and underdevelopment. On one hand, Cubans’ interpretation of underdevelopment was the economic and
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128). Both themes have had an impact on the form as well as the content of revolutionary Cuban cinema; this can be seen throughout Gutiérrez Alea’s film, Memorias del subdesarrollo (“Memories of Underdevelopment,” 1968), which has been argued to have become itself a "memory of underdevelopment;” Gutiérrez Alea noted that he “felt most free … in spite of the ever present limitations imposed by underdevelopment” (Gutiérrez Alea, 1968).
Furthermore, in his 1969 essay “For an Imperfect Cinema,” García Espinosa made no distinction between fictional and
128). Both themes have had an impact on the form as well as the content of revolutionary Cuban cinema; this can be seen throughout Gutiérrez Alea’s film, Memorias del subdesarrollo (“Memories of Underdevelopment,” 1968), which has been argued to have become itself a "memory of underdevelopment;” Gutiérrez Alea noted that he “felt most free … in spite of the ever present limitations imposed by underdevelopment” (Gutiérrez Alea, 1968).
Furthermore, in his 1969 essay “For an Imperfect Cinema,” García Espinosa made no distinction between fictional and