amazing film from cuba 1964

[Ken Gargett]

these are clips from a russian doco from back in 1964. apparently he was a very famous filmmaker - i'll confess i had not heard of it/him.

the bottom one, which i have not had a chance to watch as yet, is a full length doco on the doco.

[oliverdst]

Ken, the last video is not embedded I dont know why.

It's a Brazilian movie that I havent heard about it before. Mikhail Kalatozov is the filmmaker. Havent heard about him either.

[Ken Gargett]

Ken, the last video is not embedded I dont know why.

It's a Brazilian movie that I havent heard about it before. Mikhail Kalatozov is the filmmaker. Havent heard about him either.

thanks for that - anything tech is beyond me.

after i looked at the first two, i looked up kalatozov and there are claims of him being the greatest filmmaker of all time. not sure how that is based but even if a stretch i guess it means he is pretty impressive.

[laficion]

Hi all,

All I can say after watching on youtube on the side of the film SOY CUBA ,"BEFORE & AFTER CUBA", It's Miami B.S. Before It was a nice city runed by the ,"American Mafia". Today,It's

runed by ,"The Cuban Mafia". That's all. The Cuban people are the ones that ALWAYS suffer at the end, as always.

Guy

P.S. Looking at the flims, It looks as If poor people didn't existed before Castro. You know what ??? THEY DID .!!!!!!

If It was sooooo great BEFORE, Why a Revolution ????????

Anyway,Soy Cuba is a brilliant film.

Guy

[Ryan]

Soy Cuba is a brilliant film. I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in Cuba.

It was "rediscovered" by American film-makers in the 80s after not being popular with either the Cubans or the Soviets for not denouncing the bourgeoisie enough.

There is a continuous shot in this clip where the camera goes down the outside of a building and under the water in the pool in a single shot. Martin Scorsese claimed it was the influence for his long shot (in the back door of the nightclub) in Goodfellas.

Apparently the cameraman had to invent a spinning lens to get the water droplets off the camera when it came out of the pool so he could continue the shot.

I'd highly recommend buying the movie "Soy Cuba" and the documentary about the making of it "Soy Cuba: Siberian Mammoth". They come as a set on Amazon.

Last year in Havana, I wanted to try my own "continuous shoot" remake of the pool/building scene, with a GoPro on my head. But I had to do it backwards, from the street to the roof.

I initially had permission at the Parque Central Hotel, the pool at the Hotel Capri where the original was filmed was not reopened at the time. At the last moment the head of security at the Parque Central told me that a call came down from on high and I could not do it without permission from the Ministry for Tourism. I asked him could I get that that day and he laughed and told me "In Cuba we have this thing, it's called bureaucracy.." It was actually funny. I was going to risk it anyway but better off that I didn't. There were kids in that pool and some guy getting underwater with a GoPro on his head might upset some parents..

Luckily someone I knew had a penthouse with a pool so I got to make it on the last day.

We had models lined up to be in the pool when I got in but one of them had diarrhea and couldn't make it. A empty pool with clear water was probably the better option..

Anyway here is my "Soy Cuba" recreation.

Please forgive the elevator bit, its a bit boring, but I wanted a continuous shot and I couldn't make up a rig in time to get me safely up the outside of the 16 story building.

[Strada]

VERY interesting guys. Thank you Ken, Ryan

[saintsmokealot]

Very cool guys thanks for sharing. While watching the first thing that came to mind was the Goodfellas shot. It's very interesting to know that is where Scorsese got his influence.

[Puros Y Vino]

That shot was amazing! Going to start watching the documentary. Great find!