Haiti, Cuba and the Caribbean : Film, Vodou, Music & Art

El Baquine de Angelitos Negros [sound recording].

Licensed for all KU students, faculty, and staff connecting to the Internet.

Cuba 1996 - Popular vocal and instrumental music of Cuba. Sung in Spanish.

Cuba 1996 - A visceral, energizing look at contemporary Cuba, BITTER SUGAR is an impassioned love story set against the political and economic tensions of Havana. Gustavo, an idealistic young Communist with a glorified vision of Castro's regime, falls in love with Yolanda, a disenchanted dancer who longs to escape Miami. However, Gustavo learns that love alone cannot sustain them in a city about to erupt and slowly awakens to the devastation around him. His rebellious musician brother injects himself with the AIDS virus in civil protest; his father realizes that he will earn more money as a bar-room pianist in a tourist hotel than as a doctor. Filled with an intoxicating Latin beat and super rapid camera movements, director Leon Ichaso weaves a blazing tale of romantic and political passions amid the ruins of the Cuban Revolution.

2002 - Account of 7 Cuban refugees, and their families, who risked their lives to venture towards America’s shores on homemade rafts. While Presidents Clinton and Castro argued over the closing of Cuba’s coast in the chaotic summer of 1994, nearly 50,000 "balseros" set out towards Florida. A television reporting team from Spain filmed this story.

1999 - In 1996, Ry Cooder went to Cuba to search for buried treasure. His recording featuring the re-discovered talents of Cuba’s foremost folk musicians sold millions and earned a Grammy Award. Cooder now returns to Cuba with film maker Wim Wenders to reveal the stories, personalities, and music of the performers who collaborated on that recording. Includes live performances in Amsterdam and at Carnegie Hall.

Available via the Internet. (Source: Academic video online)
Filmed on location at La Plata, Castro's former guerrilla headquarters- the first time any foreign film crew had been permitted there - the documentary examines the origins of Castro s revolution, and its ultimate successes and failures. It places U.S.-Cuban relations within the context of history, dating back to the Spanish-American War in 1898. The documentary goes on to paint a canvas of everyday Cuban life. It contrasts the successes of Cuba - medical care, education and housing - with the often repressive political measures implemented by the Castro government.

1998. Licensed for all KU students, faculty, and staff connecting to the Internet. This Globe Trekker episode follows Ian Wright as he skydives onto a Havana beach and journeys through Cuba and Haiti. In the tobacco province of Pinar del Rio he lends a hand to the guajieros, visits a cigar factory, and stays in the holiday resort built by Fidel Castro’s lover. Ian visits the site of the Bay of Pigs invasion and Che Guevara University before swimming with dolphins in Holguin, touring Santiago de Cuba, the country’s music capital, taking a trip to Dinosaur Land, a bizarre theme park built by criminals on community service, and climbing the Gran Piedra. He continues to Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti and oldest black republic in the world. After a quick visit to Jacmel to witness a cockfight, Ian gets involved in a peasant festival, is invited to a voodoo ceremony, and ends up at a spectacular citadel in Cap Haitian.

2003 - One of the most influential and controversial figures of our time. Fidel : the untold story offers a unique look at the man through interviews with Castro himself, historians, public figures and close friends, with footage from the Cuban State archives.

2004 - On Jan. 3, 1959, a column of victorious young rebels advanced along Cuba's main highway towards Havana. At the head of the column rode 33-year-old Fidel Castro Ruz. As he went by, a Cuban peasant turned to an American journalist, and said: "There he goes, the hope of the people." Over the next few decades, by the force of his personality and the might of his Soviet benefactor, Castro turned himself and Cuba into significant players on the world stage. He did so while surviving the hostility of ten consecutive U.S. Presidents, an invasion, several CIA assassination attempts and an economic embargo. Castro's face, with its trademark beard, has become an iconic image worldwide, yet the man himself remains an enigma to all but a few. Through interviews with relatives, child-hood friends, fellow rebel leaders, Bay of Pigs veterans, human rights activists and journalists, this AMERICAN EXPERIENCE production constructs an intimate and revealing portrait of the most resilient of leaders

2003 - With the help of two new friends, a young man learns everything there is to know about things not taught in school.

1995 - In this romantic comedy, Yoyita, a now world famous diva, returns to her hometown of Guantanamo for an elegant reception in her honor and a surprising reunion with her once beloved, Candido. Overjoyed with the rekindled memories of her first love, Yoyita's elated heart fizzles while in Candido's doting embrace. Joining Yoyita's funeral procession back to Havana are her sexy niece Gina, a former professor blacklisted for political nonconformity, and her husband Adolfo, a tasteless government official in charge of the funeral's proceedings. As the cortege winds westwards across Cuba, its path keeps crossing that of Mariano, a gallant truck driver who once had a student crush on Gina and whose recurring presence crystallizes her doubts about her marriage.

Cuba 1998 - Combining surrealism, humor and insightful drama, La Vida es Silbar alternates between the romantic mishaps of three troubled people living in Havana: Mariana, a lusty young ballerina who takes a soon-to-be regrettable vow of chastity to land a coveted role; Hunky musician Elpidio, a modern-day buccaneer who steals the wallets and the hearts of visiting tourists; and Julia, a sensitive social worker who literally faints at the very mention of the world sex. As they converge towards a momentous finale, the three lost souls interlock while reaching towards reconciliation, inclusion and healing.

A magical blend of intriguing visuals and powerful music, Life is To Whistle is a charming life-affirming film about the ever-present search for happiness.

Cuba 2001 - Carla, a postal worker in Havana, fulfills her romantic longings by opening letters and rewriting them into passionate prose before sending them out again to their intended recipients. After her co-worker Cesar catches her, Carla turns her amorous talents on him. But the dictatorial new postmaster and her overexcited assistant begin to suspect something's up. Cuba's 2003 Oscar entry, Nada+ combines visual humor, poetry, satire of Cuban bureaucracy and a lighthearted love story.

H2 WORKER reveals the systematic exploitation of Caribbean laborers by the Florida sugar industry from World War II through the 1990s. Each year more than 10,000 foreign workers were granted temporary guest worker ("H-2") visas to spend six brutal months cutting sugar cane near Lake Okeechobee. They were housed in overcrowded barracks, denied adequate treatment for frequent on-the-job injuries, and paid less than minimum wage. Clandestinely filmed in the cane fields and around the workers' barracks, H-2 WORKER exposes this travesty of justice, which remained a well-kept secret for decades. H-2 WORKER provides an invaluable resource to understanding current debate over guest worker provisions of immigration legislation. H-2 WORKER illuminates how our foreign worker program continues to benefit employers at the expense of vulnerable, underpaid workers.

This documentary examines the effects of World Bank and the International Monetary Fund loans on the infrastructure Jamaica established in the wake of independence from the UK in 1962. Seven billion in debt (circa 2000), Jamaica has seen its agricultural industries laid to waste by the impossibility of competing with subsidized, multi-national American based companies. The poverty of ’average’ Jamaican in a shantytown near Kingston is in stark contrast to the luxurious tropical fantasy paradise experienced by tourists in posh Montego Bay. In a dog-eat-dog global economy, the US and its multinational corporate clients have all the advantages, while Jamaica has no agriculture, no industry, and no tax base--only ever-growing debt.

2006 - The beautiful scenery of the Dominican Republic provides the backdrop for the story of Angélica, an orphaned woman, exploited by her aunt. She seems to find some light in her life when she meets Antonio Guzmán, son of a wealthy family, and falls in love. But their happiness is interrupted when those who wish the couple harm reveal her past.

The Center houses a collection of approximately 12,000 audio and video items in over 60 languages.

Located on the fourth floor of Wescoe Hall. The main office is in room 4070.