TSPDT

Key Production Country: Cuba
Key Genres: Drama, History, Comedy Drama, Comedy, Political Drama, Psychological Drama
Key Collaborators: Leo Brouwer (Composer), Mario García Joya (Cinematographer), Nelson Rodríguez (Editor), Ramón F. Suárez (Cinematographer), Mario González (Editor), Reynaldo Miravalles (Leading Character Actor), Mirta Ibarra (Leading Character Actress), Andrés Cortina (Character Actor), Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera (Character Actor)

"Cuba's greatest director, Alea was much influenced by Italian neorealism during his studies in Rome. He returned to Cuba in 1953 and joined the radical "Nuestro Tiempo" cultural society, becoming active in the film section… Alea's diversive creative personality led him to experiment with a broad range of styles and themes… The stresses and strains in Cuba's revolutionary society were explored in two dramatic works, Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) and Up to a Certain Point (1984). Memories, Alea's masterpiece, blends documentary and drama to create a sensitive portrait of a politically uncommitted intellectual in the early days of the Revolution." - Dennis West (The Virgin International Encyclopedia of Film, 1992)

"Gutierrez's revolutionary credentials did not prevent him from consistently producing work that questioned Cuban history and the achievements of the revolution. In fact, he succeeded in doing so where other artists, such as the documentary director and painter Nicolas Guillen Landrian, were stymied by the authorities." - Alice O'Keeffe (The Guardian, 2008)

"Funded by the state, ICAIC's (Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos) filmmakers mixed documentary and fiction image-making to incite action and educate the masses. In Alea, at least, there is a tendency to balance the didactic impulse with a reflection on the cinematic tradition… Alea codirected the Oscar-nominated homosexual love story Strawberry and Chocolate (1994), and Guantanamera (1995); the films stand as a notable finale for a career focused on underdeveloped imagination and human limitation." - Garrett Chaffin-Quiray (501 Movie Directors, 2007)

"Cinematic giant Tomás Gutiérrez Alea is widely regarded as Cuba’s foremost filmmaker. From comedies and satires to historical epics, his stylistically daring films explore life in postrevolutionary Cuba… Gutiérrez Alea wrote and directed more than 20 features, documentaries, and short films throughout his life. Steeped in film history during his studies at Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Gutiérrez Alea pays homage in his films to the greats who inspired him, including Charlie Chaplin and Luis Buñuel." - Wexner Center for the Arts, 2024

"He was widely eulogized as the brightest star of the Cuban cinema, at a time when it was matched in the hemisphere only by Brazil in its artistic excellence and social and political relevance." - Stephen Brophy (International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 2000)

"Although he made a documentary about coal miners in 1955, it was only after the 1959 revolution that he could begin to make feature films. Castro's revitalization of the film industry allowed creative scope to film-makers. Death of a Bureaucrat (1966) is an amusing satire on Red red-tape and Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) subtly and ironically examines the role of the intellectual in the new Cuba. In The Last Supper (1976), Alea used colour for the first time with excellent results." - Ronald Bergan (A-Z of Movie Directors, 1983)