In this episode, Jason Christian and Anthony Ballas are joined by guest Silas Nathan to discuss Mikhail Kalatozov's iconic film, I Am Cuba (1964), a Soviet-Cuban collaboration about the years just before and during the revolution.

Silas Nathan is a Latin Americanist, translator, and photographer whose work focuses on US-Latin America relations. He wrote his undergraduate thesis about Cuban cinema. He has a BA in Spanish Studies and a master's degree in teaching, both from Bard College.

In this episode we discuss:

• The recent US State Department Cuba report, its implications for political organizing, and its connection to Cold War history.
• The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, or ICAIC, the state-funded filmmaking organization established in March of 1959, just three months after the Revolutionary victory. The organization is still making films to this day.
• The historical and political context of I Am Cuba
• Kalatov's dialectical aesthetic vision
• The incredible production and cinematography of I Am Cuba
• The misunderstood legacy of I Am Cuba and its orginal reception in Cuba.

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We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode:

Silas's recommendations: the books Cuban Cinema by Michael Chanan and Cuba: A New History by Richard Gott; the news organization Belly of the Beast; and the 1968 film Memories of Underdevelopment, directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea.

Tony's recommendations: the 1944 Haitian novel Gouverneurs de la rosée, by Jacques Roumain, and the 1968 Soviet novel The Foundation Pit, by Andrei Platonov.

Jason's recommendations: the Cuba Analysis podcast, especially the recent episode with Prof. Isaac Saney; the book We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World by Helen Yaffe; and the 1977 film De cierta manera (One Way or Another), directed by Sara Gómez.

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Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don't forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com.

To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at coldwarcinema.com, or find us online on Bluesky @coldwarcinema.com or on X at @Cold_War_Cinema.

For more from your hosts:

• Follow Silas on X (Twitter) here: @jsnathan03, and check out Concrete Conditions, Silas's Substack on history and culture.
• Follow Jason on Bluesky at @JasonChristian.bsky.social, on X at @JasonAChristian, or on Letterboxed at @exilemagic.
• Follow Anthony on Bluesky at @tonyjballas.bsky.social, on X at @tonyjballas.
• Follow Paul on Bluesky at @ptklein.com, or on Letterboxed at @ptklein. Paul also writes about movies at www.howotreadmovies.com

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Logo by Jason Christian

Theme music by DYAD (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt).

Happy listening!