News
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The Last Supper: “A masterpiece from the first image to the last”
Screen Cuba is set to bring Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s awardwinning film The Last Supper / La última cena from 1976, to the 2026 festival this March. This powerful yet painterly drama brings a pious sugar plantation owner in 1790s Cuba to share his table at Easter with 12 enslaved men. A radical parable showing slavery…
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Introducing…’Up to a Point’ by Tomás Alea
Up to a Point (Hasta Cierto Punto) was made in 1983 by one of the founders of Cuban revolutionary cinema, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea It is a clever drama about fighting machismo in all areas of Cuban society. The female lead is a dockworker, played by one of Cuba’s distinguished actors, Mirta Ibarra. It is a…
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12 Chairs – the first comedy of the revolution
This first comedy of the revolution and the first feature film by the godfather of revolutionary Cuban cinema, Tomas Gutierrez Alea, is this cunning adaptation of a comic novel from the early years of the USSR by Ilf and Petrov. The madcap plot concerns the hunt for family jewels hidden by a wealthy Cuban matriarch…
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Meet the Cuban designers of our 2026 festival poster
Screen Cuba is delighted to introduce the design duo behind our striking festival poster. They are currently hard at work creating our promo video for the festival. Dayron Giro (b. 2002) pictured right“I discovered the wonderful world of design at just 17 years old,” says Dayron Giro, a young graphic designer, illustrator, and creative director.…
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About the director Humberto Solás
Humberto Solás Borrego was born to a poor family in Habana Vieja (the capital’s Old Town) on 4 December, 1941. While still at school, aged 14, he joined the urban guerrillas of the 26 of July Movement against the dictator Fulgencio Batista, supporting the band of rebels, including Fidel Castro and Ché Guevara. After the…
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2026 Festival Poster revealed
We are thrilled to unveil our brilliant 2026 Festival poster, created by two young outstanding graphic designers based in Cuba. Roberto Pérez Curbelo (@_potto_), who designed last year’s poster, has now teamed up with Dayron Giro (@d.giro.design) to produce a colourful and captivating image that we’re confident you’ll enjoy as much as we do. Puro…
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Adela Legrá and Lucía
Adela Legrá, who died on 2 January 2026, was an iconic figure in Cuban cinema and one of the most celebrated actors on the island’s film and television screens. Lucía was the film that brought her to the attention of audiences in Cuba—and far beyond—and Screen Cuba audiences will be delighted to see it will…
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Lucía and the search for decolonization
Read here about the director Humberto Solas’s ideas when interviewed at the time his film Lucia was made in Cuba. “In a general sense, globally, Lucía is a film of quests. […] There are several points that identify these stories: the presence of women, the attitude of women in certain eras, and their relationship with…
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Lucía, a standout film of the festival
There’s not long to go until we reveal the brilliant programme for this year’s festival. In themeantime, to whet your appetite, we’re delighted to offer a glimpse of one of the highlights in store:Lucía (1968), directed by Humberto Solás.One of the most emblematic works in the history of Cuban cinema, Lucía promises to be a…
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The preservation of Cuba’s film archives is an urgent race against time
OVER THE last year more than 15,000 children and teenagers have crowded into Cuban cinemas to see animations featuring Elpidio Valdés, restored with the help of funds raised by the Screen Cuba film festival. Elpidio is a cartoon character created for children in the 1970s by Juan Padrón, who symbolises the fight for Cuban independence…
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Cinema to the rescue
When Screen Cuba donated funds for the recently restored Clarín Mambí, an early cartoon by Cuba’s godfather of animation Juan Padrón, we could not imagine that the premiere of the restored film would be screened on a bed sheet hung up at an evacuation centre. Yet this is how the José Maceo Vocational School in…
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Screen Cuba Festival 2025 helps restore short films by Juan Padrón
Screen Cuban has done it again! The Festival has recently paid £6,700 to the Colombian Film Heritage Foundation as requested by the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC), to support ICAIC’s project to restore many of its important classic films in its archive. Last year we donated £3000, enabling the restoration of two early cartoons about Elpidio…
SCREEN CUBA, 15-28 March 2026, LONDON & BEYOND 