Iván Nápoles
Camera
Known For

Through the files of Cuban cinema news program Noticieros ICAIC Latinoamericanos, the documentary shows the most relevant events of the second half of the 20th century as seen by the documentary filmmakers of the island. During three decades and under the general direction of Santiago Álvarez, these moviemakers witnessed almost everything: from the shivers of the Cold War to Bola de Nieve's piano solos; from the discovery of the killing fields in Cambodia to the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. In 2009, the original negatives of Noticieros ICAIC Latinoamericanos were declared part of the "world memory" by UNESCO.
Memória Cubana

This film memorializes the leader of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, on the occasion of his death. It narrates the story of a life which is also the story of a nation-recounting his important accomplishments in the struggle against colonialism and imperialism.
79 Springs

This film confronts the failures of the Cuban economy, although it is made in a Guevara-like spirit of moral exhortation rather than criticism.
Take-Off at 18:00 Hours

Cuba, 1961: 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old. Over half were women. MAESTRA explores this story through the personal testimonies of the young women who went out to teach literacy in rural communities across the island - and found themselves deeply transformed in the process.
Maestra

Ana Deborah Mola and Belkis Lescaille were among the first young teachers who started pilot programs around the island of Cuba in 1960, laying foundation for the massive National Literacy Campaign that would take place the following year.
Maestras Voluntarias

No description available.
Brascuba

In December 1967, a Cuban film crew led by Santiago Alvarez, the veteran polemicist, travelled to Hanoi. They shot the footage which constitutes this short documentary all in one day - Tuesday 13. The film is the story of that day and what happened to the North Vietnamese people in the course of it.
Hanoi, Tuesday 13th

An ordinary man goes to work in a rich household of Peru and has a dream in which he sees his boss and himself appearing as equal in front of the Archangel before going to heaven... Based on a tale by Jose Maria Argueda
The Servant's Dream

Follows the Cuban leader into the home of a 93 year old acquaintance of Jose Marti, who is now blind and who takes the duration of the film to realize who his illustrious interviewer actually is.
My Brother, Fidel

The short film El primer delegado (The First Delegate), made by a group of ICAIC directors, recounts the moments in which José Martí announced the foundations and statutes of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, the tireless struggle that the hero sustained throughout his life to obtain independence, his gifts as a political organizer, the final founding of the party, of which he was the first delegate, and his offer to General Máximo Gómez of the military leadership of the insurrection, the final founding of the party, of which he was the first delegate, and his offer to General Máximo Gómez of the military leadership of the insurrection, all narrated live by an announcer who entertains with his reading the work of the cigar makers in a tobacco factory, until the documentary reaches its final climax: the symbolic reconversion of the old Marti's party into a new one.
The First Delegate

Focuses on the history of foreign intervention in Laos, first by France and then by the United States. It shows how the liberation forces of Laos, under continuous U.S. bombing, were able to run an entire society in hidden caves and tunnels. Through the leadership of the Pathet Lao, they organized schools, cultural activities, clinics, as well as political and military activities literally underground.
The Forgotten War

Alvarez' longest documentary examination of the Cuban Revolution, this contains exceptional interviews with Fidel, Raúl, Almeida, Vilma, Haydee, Celia and Faustino Perez, among other key players in the Revolution.
The Necessary War
Short documentary recounting the history of the Santiago de Cuba carnival.
Biografía de un carnaval
A documentary on the action of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Congo (Zaire) in 1967.