Coffea Arábiga (1968, Cuba)

COFFEA ARÁBIGA( Cuba,1968,18 Min, Black and White, Spanish)

DIR Nicolás Guillén Landrián
PROD Jorge Rouco
SCR Nicolás Guillén Landrián, Miguel de Zárraga
DP Lupercio López
ED Iván Arocha
MUSIC Armando Guerra, The Beatles, Jazz Crusaders, The Supremes
SOUND Rodolfo Plaza

SYNOPSIS
Documentary short that was commissioned to portray and celebrate the sow of coffee in the outskirts of Havana, an effort named Cordón de La Habana (The String Around Havana). The result is equal parts didactic, propagandist and experimental, not without flashes of irreverence. The film is focused on the history and the processing of coffee, but manages to incorporate poetry, music, irony and sly challenges to the censors, all within a dynamic and fresh style of montage. —Ralch

NICOLÁS GUILLÉN LANDRIÁN
Nicolás Guillén Landrián (1938 in Camaguey, Cuba -- July 23, 2003 in Miami, Florida) was a Cuban experimental filmmaker and painter. Guillén was an accomplished filmmaker. He made a total of 13 documentaries, although they were heavily censored and prevented from being part of the Cuban Film Industry. In 1964, he was given a special award at the Cracow Film Festival for his film En un barrio viejo. In 1968, his documentary Coffea Arabiga featured the Beatles' song Fool on the Hill as Fidel Castro appeared on screen. That same year, Guillén was accused of plotting to assassinate Castro. The Cuban government interrogated him for six months in Villa Marista. From 1970 to 1989, he was repeatedly jailed and institutionalized. He received at least eight treatments of electroconvulsive therapy, never under sedation. As painter he taught Rene Portocarrero and Victor Miquel Moreno Piñeiro in painting. In 1989, he was able to flee Cuba and lived the rest of his life in Miami, Florida. He died of cancer at Mercy Hospital in Miami. After his death, his widow had his body flown from Miami and entombed in Colon Cemetery, Havana in Cuba. His uncle was Afro-Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén. Filmmakers: Victor R. Jiménez Sosa, and Jorge Egusquiza produced a biographical documentary of Nicolás Guillén Landrián in his own words, "Nicolás: the end but not the end", by Coincident Productions (2005) and Filmmaker Manuel Zayas directed Coffee with Milk (2003)

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Cuba
• art
• cinema
• experimental
• film
• Experimental Film
• Short
• Documentary
• Short Film
• Documentary Film
• Filmmaker
• Filmmaking
• Coffea
• Arábiga
• nicolas
• guillen
• landrian