Destination ICAIC: Cosmopolitan Intellectuals, Documentary Film and the Image of the Cuban 1960s

Author

Gabriel Arce-Riocabo Rollins, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

9-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Latin American, Iberian and Latino Cultures

Advisor

Fernando Degiovanni

Committee Members

Vanessa Pérez-Rosario

Ángeles Donoso Macaya

Subject Categories

Film and Media Studies | Latin American Languages and Societies | Scandinavian Studies | Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature | Television

Keywords

Cuban Revolution, Socialism, Latin America, Sara Gómez, Alberto Roldán, Nicolás Guillén Landrián

Abstract

This study analyzes the interaction between foreign intellectuals and ICAIC (Instituto cubano de artes e industrias cinematográficas) in shaping the image of Cuba in the 1960s. I make the case that the idea of Revolution was a product of cosmopolitan intellectual engagement and that in this process documentary film was a privileged medium. By tracing the development of normative stories of commitment, cosmopolitanism, and aesthetic experimentation embodied both in written texts and travel essay films, I argue that such circulation destabilizes fixed ideas of Cuban, Revolutionary or Intellectual. The archive of Danish filmmaker and ICAIC collaborator Theodor Christensen as well as a survey of the complex network of foreign participants in Cuban film retell the story of the creation of a revolutionary documentary film ethos and of how the Revolution was documented from the perspective of the exchanges which made both possible.

Recommended Citation

Arce-Riocabo Rollins, Gabriel, "Destination ICAIC: Cosmopolitan Intellectuals, Documentary Film and the Image of the Cuban 1960s" (2022). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5123