Noises in Cuban Revolutionary Cinema

Abstract

Cinema in 1960s Cuba was a privileged cite for reflections upon ideas regarding sound, processes of racialization, and historical marginalization. This chapter examines and discusses a selection of central films from this period as interventions regarding the status of sound and listening practices, with attention to noise in relation to emergent subjectivities. It situates Cuban film production in a context shaped by a heightened sonic sensibility as reflected in the formation of the Grupo de Experimentación Sonora (GESI) as well as the unique roles of sound in Cuban cinema of the period. The chapter discusses works by Alberto Roldán, Julio García Espinosa, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, and Nicolás Guillén Landrián, among others as instantiations of listening informed by concerns with race and history, approached through discussions in film theory regarding film sound, the audio-visual, and noise.