"Paris, St Germain des Prés, June 1963." "HI THERE, CUBANOS" "Cuba: 10 years of Revolution Photo exhibition" "Cuba, January 1963." "To express received ideas," "Cuba was a cigar-shaped island for men." "A crocodile-shaped island for ladies." "Since the Cuban Revolution, all Cubans have beards because of Fidel Castro." "Since the Caribbean Crisis, Cuba's been a floating mine." "Y et people are curious about Cuba as the Cuban Revolution was lyrical;" "their march was the conga;" "they said "Our country or death";" "some did die, but this country exists." "I was in Cuba." "I brought back jumbled images." "To order them, I made this homage, this film entitled "Hi There, Cubanos"." "Visitors are surprised by how Cuba's moving and the tropical-socialist colorfulness." "Y es, there are cigars in Cuba." "Y es, there are beards:" "Rebel beards, artist beards, or official beards, but Cuba's most common beard is beard-like cotton candy." "It is a land of sugar." "And there are the Cuban women." "The Cuban women, between the cigars and beards." "Visitors soon distinguish between decorative color and the more socialist color." "Here are ladies' hats for tourists." "Here's to Marxism-Leninism in a militia woman's beret." "Here, the infinite variety of men's hats." "Here's to the workers of an oil refinery in the Bay of Santiago." "Here, the Bay of Havana." "Here's to a boat of Vietnamese friends." "Here, bare-headed women or with hair rollers." "Here's to a studious student with a firm hold on her pencil." "Here, a Chinaman from Chinatown." "Here, a cockfighting fan." "And here, the cock." "Here's to the cooperative chickens." "Here's to the model bull from a model bull cooperative." "This mountain painter likes air and freedom." "It's amusing when he compares his work to Havana's tallest building." "Here's to Cuban excess:" "Financing this crazy fresco and a village in the trees which was built by domino players." "For lottery fans, an invitation to luck and dancing as exotic as the dyes in Japanese silk." "Before the Revolution, lottery profits went to the dictator's wife for her pocket money." "Since the Liberation, it's been used by the Reconstruction Institute." "With this silk paper..." "this paper silk have been built East Havana and other workers' homes to replace the slums." "Here's to ex-rebel lieutenant, Eugenio Mur." "In English, Eugene Wall." "A mason foreman." "For him, revolution means construction." "As it is for Ricardo Porro, a disciple of Le Corbusier and Gaudi." "He builds great art schools for future actors, musicians, dancers, painters and sculptors." "Here's to future artists." "Here, a former sculptor with his model / pupil who looks like his Eve." "Here's to Selma Diaz, architect and planner seen in the very moving documentary, "Cuba Si"." "She's an emblem of Cuban youth." "She is also one of its loveliest faces." "Here's to "Cuba Si, y ankee No"." "Y et this is reminiscent of US films..." ""Our Man in Havana."" "...villages in westerns..." ""The Big Country."" "...cowboys..." "Here's to "Johnny Guitar"." "The revolutionaries' triumphant ride to celebrate" "July 26th, the date of the traditional carnival that I didn't see, alas, but which is the date of the 1st liberation battle at Moncada Barracks organized by Fidel Castro who it is time to talk about." "He is the Man of Cuba, as Gary Cooper was the "Man of the West"." "He is a star as bearded vociferator, smiling leader, and hirsute maquisard." "He's the Prime Minister and the Party's Secretary-General." "Fidel Castro Ruiz, 37 - 10 years of revolutionary action:" "1 in the resistance, 2 in prison, 1 in exile," "2 in the maquis, and 4 in the living revolution." "He's talkative." "In his speeches which can last 6 hours, his concern is to be clear." "He can get carried away." "He represents the people, and the people represent him." "Luckily I wasn't born with the vocation of being a "caudillo"." "I remember that during the war, I didn't give orders in a military way." "I think it's better to persuade people." "The truths of historical reality are so clear, obvious and tangibl that anyone intelligent understands them." "It's not indoctrination." "Some people couldn't be revolutionary by nature or temperament for above all, a revolutionary is generous, selfless, prepared to sacrifice himself." "A revolutionary isn't an opportunist or an actor." "I'm glad that I was politically ignorant at 18 and that I still feel as revolutionary 18 years later." "Our country is a guinea-pig for Latin American revolution." "So, we do all we can to gain experience and be an example to our allies." "More than ever, I am proud to be a man of this people." "Another man of the people:" "President of the Republic, Osvaldo Dorticos." "A lawyer like Fidel, but less colorful." "He works very efficiently alongside Fidel on a daily basis." "Lastly, here's the king." "In Havana he's called the "Rhythm King" or the "Barbarian"." "Benny Moré sings and dances a "son montuno", derived from peasant songs." "Only have your face stroked by Cuban girls!" "Only one strokes mine... and she's Cuban!" "Here's to Benny Moré who sadly passed away before this film was completed." "Here's to the dead king." "He spoke of Cuban women like a Cuban." "So, on to the blending in music and women." "The Cuban woman has African pride plus Spanish spice:" "Liberty with a smile." "Here's the Cuban woman at the women's congress." "Here, part of the body politic." "And she has a melodic body, a moving S." "The fashion for these narrow skirts reveals her simple, natural aggressiveness." "What counts is the body's rhythm and music." "The music too is a happy blend of 3 ingredients:" "Spanish, African, and French." "Y es, indeed!" "16th-century Spanish colonists brought their language, their Catholicism" " still thriving - and their music, passed on by peasants - "guajiras" - to become "son" and "guaracha"." "This is about land reform." "Carlos Raphael is in charge of land reform." "The State reclaimed 50% of Cuba's land." "It is farmed by and for cooperatives." "Small landowners are also banding together." "The US took the sugar and gave away the rest." "Since the economic change, sugar has posed problems." "Sugarcane spells wealth." "It is the currency, but it is also hard work." "We need the people's help to cut all the sugarcane!" "There are appeals for volunteers on the radio and in songs," ""guajiras" sung in "decimas"." "Some agree to work for 3 months." "Others go on Sundays." "Music and emulation work well:" "The sugarcane gets cut." "Peasants can read and write thanks to the Revolution." "Up to 1960, 40% of Cubans were illiterate, so teams of volunteer students" " some as young as 12 - were trained to teach." "100,000 of them spent a year going around villages, teaching the ABC and helping old peasants discover writing." "One youth was killed by counter-revolutionaries." "When they came back, Fidel said they had won a battle and awarded them all scholarships." "These scholars - many of them peasants - live in the old residential quarter." "They discover the modern city." "They discover the museums." "They learn about the Revolution and their History." "These photos were shown in Paris in June '63 and before that, exhibited in Havana where I noticed, as I watched the visitors, this typical gesture:" "The man puts his hand on the woman's shoulder." "Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, opened this show." "He's the Army Secretary." "He comes to the port for a trip with friends around the Bay of Havana." "With this little sailor, they go to a boat, the "Granma"." "But their trip is a pilgrimage, and the boat is a historic one." "They are part of Cuba's history." "In November '58 on this 80-foot-long boat, 82 men set sail from Mexico and landed in Cuba to liberate the country." "These political exiles and volunteers prepared the Revolution." "They allowed 4 days to cross the Caribbean." "They took food, radios, weapons." "They were to be met by maquisard peasants." "They sailed for 8 days between Mexico and Cuba." "These 82 men, trained for months, had to stand virtually upright." "40 below, 42 on deck." "They hadn't anticipated the storm, the roll, and the foggy nights." "Here's to seasick revolutionaries!" "Upon landing 3 days late, they wanted to kiss their native soil..." "Lyrical revolutionaries!" "...but they were in the marshes for hours." "The water came up to their arms and they had to abandon their weapons, food, and radios." "With no contact from maquisards, betrayed, shot at and hunted down, it took a month to reach the Sierra, walking at night, eating sugarcane, drinking dew off leaves." "82 set off - 12 arrived." "Among them, Raul Castro," "Calixto Garcia," "Juan Almeida, as well as" "Fidel Castro," "Che Guevara, and Camillo Cienfuegos, deceased." "The 12 swore not to cut their hair till Cuba was free." "Here's to romantic revolutionaries!" "They organized resistance in the Sierra for 2 years, aided by local peasants - the rebel army." "Around there, once, when the shadows grow long," "I saw a truck arriving." "Musicians gathered around a hurdy-gurdy." "On it was written:" ""The rumba's coming"." "The dance certainly is coming." "And the villagers start dancing." "We've felt the African rhythms." "Let's see the 2nd origin of Cuban music:" "Black slaves from Africa whose rhythms may be heard in celebrations such as the "bombes" of the Locumi religion." "This religion has mixed Catholic and other mythologies." "Ochum, goddess of love, patron of rivers, gold, and honey, a sort of African Aphrodite, with many lovers, is worshipped as Our Lady of Charity," "Cuba's patron saint, with masses in the Basilica del Cobre." "Another religion comes from the Congo." "To a connoisseur, the mythology and rhythms are different." "Here's a religious leader." "His title is "Principal Tataganga of Bititicongo"." "He sacrifices white animals on the altar, a crucifix surrounded by animal skulls." "Other black cults include the dancing Abakua, dressed as devils." "All these African rhythms gradually became Afro-Cuban rhythms like the rumba whose purest form, the "guaguanco"" "has just rhythm and narrative singing." "This is about a row between a spoon and a fork, orchestrated by the saucepans." "It's a concrete poem." "Cuban intellectuals love "guaguanco"." "Here, in the Writers' House, are 2 national poets." "Nicolas Guillen sang of his black and white grandfathers and integrated black rhythms into Spanish poetry." "Roberto Retamar, precious, secretive, very spiritual." "His poems remind me of Rilke." "Alejo Carpentier, well-known for novels like "El Siglo de las Luces", runs the State publishing house." "Here he is at home with his wife, Lydia under paintings by Lam." "Wilfredo Lam is a great painter, a bit African, a bit Chinese - very international." "A surrealist with a tropical realism, abounding in tragic sensuality." "He is known in Europe, but in Cuba, he's a national Picasso." "And here's Raul Milian." "His ink paintings are subtle and desperate." "Here's Rene Portocarrero, a happy painter of cities and women who uses color to express the Cuban baroque." "I heard Fidel talk about painting." "Cuban artists dislike Khrushchev's views on abstract art." "But Cuba's a free country." "Our painters are revolutionary, but who stops them being abstract?" "Who could stop this old Santiago woman dancing?" "104 years old." "She represents the 3rd origin of Cuban music:" "French." "The slaves of the French who came after the Haitian Revolution passed on these dances, counterfeit quadrilles." ""Carabali isuama":" "The kings and queens bow to each other in courtly costumes and white stockings." "The "tumba francesa" around a beribboned pole." "A dance with veils, overseen by the elders." "Out of all this grew the "danzon" of the 20s that some "charanga" bands still perform on Sunday mornings." "Meanwhile, volunteers work in the fields and militia women - also volunteers - guard stores and public buildings... in case of counter-revolutionary attacks, aided by powerful neighbors." "Meanwhile, others spend Sundays just like anywhere else... doing nothing... or playing baseball by Havana's baroque cathedral... or in their Sunday best - white if you're a black lady," "black if you're a white lady... or carrying your white doll if you're a black girl," "your black doll if you're a white girl." "Then it's Monday once more." "This cleaner at the museum, dusting the Attic curves with a nurse's gentleness, moved me like the caretaker in Hemingway's house." "He's the gardener." "When Hemingway wrote "The Old Man and the Sea", he was inspired by a local fisherman from Cojimar." "Everything is just as it was then." "The gardener seems part of the museum." "I wanted to shoot a film here, but the ICAIC already has." "The ICAIC" " Cuban Film Institute - began with the Liberation." "Run by Alfredo Guevara, assisted by Saul y elin for world affairs, and by Hector Garcia Mesa for the very fine film library." "It produced historical films like "Joven Rebelde", played by an actor, seen here on guard;" "comedies like "Las 12 Sillas", directed by Alea;" "mythological films like "El Otro Cristobal" by Gatti." "This young person," "Sarita Gomez directs didactic films." "She'll dance, accompanied by other filmmakers and an actress, the final cha-cha-cha." "Subtitles:" "J. Miller"