UNA ISLA PARA MIGUEL, Sara Gómez, Cuba 1968, DCP, OV/EnS, 22 min
GUANABACOA: CRÓNICAS DE MI FAMILIA, Sara Gómez, Cuba 1966, DCP, OV/EnS, 13 min
IRÉ A SANTIAGO, Sara Gómez, Cuba 1964, DCP, OV/EnS, 15 min
Introduction: Susan Lord (Queen's University)
Sep 8, 2021 15:00 Arsenal Cinema

Sara Gómez’s documentaries are energetic examples of direct cinema where the interaction between the director and the people she films is central to her practice. The films in this program are portraits – of individuals, of cities, of family – and are examples of Gómez’s abiding commitment to populating the frame with the diversity and specificity of those who history could forget. The Vulnerable Media Lab at Queen’s University is currently undertaking a restoration project in honor of this commitment. UNA ISLA PARA MIGUEL takes place on Island of Pines. Miguel, one of 12 children from a poor neighborhood in Havana, was sent to La isla to become a “new man”. The portrait provides the family its dignity and Miguel his youthfulness. IRÉA SANTIAGO portrays the city of Santiago de Cuba, connecting the contemporary men and women to a past of slavery and resistance. CRÓNICAS DE MI FAMILIA is an intimate portrait of Gómez’s family and their city of Guanabacoa on the outskirts of Havana.