The Cinema of Sara Gmez

Throughout the 1960s until her untimely death in 1974, Afro-Cuban filmmaker Sara Gmez engaged directly and courageously with the social, political, economic, and cultural transformations promised by the Cuban Revolution. Gmez directed numerous documentary films in 10 prolific years. She also made De cierta manera (One way or another), her only feature-length film. Her films navigate complex experiences of social class, race, and gender by reframing revolutionary citizenship, cultural memory, and political value. Not only have her inventive strategies become foundational to new Cuban cinema and feminist film culture, but they also continue to inspire media artists today who deal with issues of identity and difference. The Cinema of Sara Gmez assembles history, criticism, biography, methodology, and theory of Gmez's work in scholarly writing; interviews with friends and collaborators; the film script of De cierta manera; and a detailed and complete filmography. Featuring striking images, this anthology reorients how we tell Cuban cinema history and how we think about the intersections of race, gender, and revolution. By addressing Gmez's entire body of work, The Cinema of Sara Gmez unpacks her complex life and gives weight to her groundbreaking cinema.