Cuba and the Cameraman

Cuba and the Cameraman is a very human chronicle of life in revolutionary Cuba told through the camera of Jon Alpert. Over 42 years he repeatedly visited the island with his video camera, returning to befriend three Cuban families as well as Fidel Castro himself. In the lives of ordinary people we get to see the history of the Cuban Revolution from the bottom up – the optimism of the triumph, the good times of the 1970s, the hardships of the 1990s after the loss of Soviet trading relations, to the death of Fidel in 2016. Through Alpert's unique access to the island, and the trust and friendships earned over decades, this film is a candid and revealing never-before-seen portrait of Cuba.

With two Oscars to his name (both for Best Documentary Short), in Cuba and the Cameraman Alpert gives us a window into a foreign world. Windows are important; without them, we’d never be able to see through our walls. And this is as clear and wide a window as you’re ever likely to find.