When, in Alejo Carpentier's novel *The Kingdom of This World* , Ti Noel believes he has discovered the meaning of history, he has only his aging body—"timed flesh"—and his ancestral memory as his inheritance. He had witnessed revolutions and tyrannies; he had been a slave, an ant, a bird, and a free man. He had managed to traverse time and, now without much hope, let his rage become a hurricane.

The Cuban films in this series sculpt a landscape of the island and its cinema through time. From the record of an imagined and rehearsed utopia at the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, to the emotional and fragmented archaeology of its traces. The contradictions explored by filmmakers like Sara Gómez , Nicolás Guillén Landrián , and Miñuca Villaverde —key figures in Cuban cinema—are further complicated by creators such as Carlos Quintela , Gretel Marín, and Fernando Fraguela in the turbulent present of the Caribbean nation. A zone of dialogues and legacies, articulated around themes such as racism, homophobia, exodus, political discourse, and education in the exploration of a social project conceived in the masculine: "the new man." Works whose empathy for the individual and irreverence toward dogma transform them into artistic gestures of visceral humanism.

The forms of this cinema are incredibly diverse. They range from the openly experimental to the rawest and most direct, encompassing dark comedy and absurdity, archival footage, and documentary-style interviews. But one common gesture places us squarely before a backdrop of rebellion: the characters in these films often look directly at the camera. Can these images transform their rage into a hurricane?

This cycle has been programmed by José Luis Aparicio Ferrera and Carla Valdés León.

Collaborator : Aracne Digital Cinema

Image credits: Lava path , Gretel Marín, Cuba, 2021.