UCLA

The study analyzes how the socialist bloc film industry integrated Cuba in socialist internationalism, and how Cuba benefited from and resisted that integration. I argue that negotiating two competing narratives – socialist internationalism (solidarity) and the Cuban anti-neocolonialism (sovereignty) – affected this cultural exchange. Cubans enjoyed the material benefits of socialist solidarity, but strongly resisted when it threatened their decision-making. As a result of this, Cuba downplayed the importance of the socialist bloc aid for its film industry, even though the socialist bloc contributed significantly to its development.

The socialist bloc also played a role in the formation of the cinematic narrative of the Cuban Revolution through films that represented the “new” Cuba. Filmmakers attempted to integrate Cuba in the narrative of socialist internationalism, capitalizing on shared enemies like imperialism and the bourgeoisie, although these enemies and conflicts did not have the same significance for all parties.

The study reconstructs a cultural history of collaboration between Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, and the USSR in the 1960s, using three co-productions as case studies: the Soviet Soy Cuba (Kalatozov, 1964), the Czechoslovak Para qui�n baila La Habana (Čech, 1962) and the East German Preludio 11 (Maetzig, 1964). I explore understudied and unpublished primary sources from archives in the Czech Republic and Germany, regarding the films’ conception, production, and reception. I also study film press reviews to assess the films’ historical value and add oral histories to cover the gaps in archival documentation.

I conclude that distinct visions of socialist internationalism informed the three countries’ relationships with Cuba. While all three countries contributed material support and training, and their documentaries were praised in Cuba for reflecting the ideals that Cuban leaders wanted to broadcast, the three co-productions were rejected for not fulfilling the Cuban people’s expectations. Cubans were wary of the political ambiguities the films had introduced, worried that they might destabilize the official narrative of the Cuban Revolution. My dissertation reveals that although the films were dismissed for their Eurocentric gaze and lack of authenticity, they demonstrate the filmmakers’ capacity to understand the Cuban Revolution and connections it had with their own socialist reality.