I am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth (2005) Soy Cuba, O Mamute Siberiano (original title)

Director:

Vicente Ferraz

Writer:

Vicente Ferraz

Release Date:

7 October 2005 (Italy)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

This film examines the creation and exhibition of the propaganda film I Am Cuba, a Soviet/Cuban collaboration unknown in the West until the 1990s. |

Plot Keywords:

Cuba | Film Making | Behind The Scenes | Journey | Investigation

Awards:

5 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Othon Bastos	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alexander Calzatti	...	Himself (as Aleksandr Kaltsatyj)
Fidel Castro	...	Himself (archive footage)
Luz María Collazo	...	Herself
Sergio Corrieri	...	Himself
Maurício do Valle	...	Himself (archive footage)
Vicente Ferraz	...	Himself
Raúl García	...	Himself
Jean-Luc Godard	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alfredo Guevara	...	Himself
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mikhail Kalatozov	...	Himself (archive footage)
Enrique Pineda Barnet	...	Himself
Glauber Rocha	...	Himself (archive footage)
Sergei Urusevsky	...	Himself (archive footage)
Juan Varona	...	Himself
Salvador Wood	...	Himself
Yevgeni Yevtushenko	...	Himself (archive footage)

Directed by
Vicente Ferraz

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Vicente Ferraz

Produced by
Leonardo Edde	....	co-producer
Isabel Marinez	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Jenny Padrón

Cinematography by
Tareq Daoud
Vicente Ferraz

Film Editing by
Dull Janiel
Mair Tavares

Sound Department
Francisco Slade	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Alan Calzatti	....	director of photography: second unit

Production Companies

• Três Mundos Produções

Distributors

• Cinema Tropical (2005) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• trigon-film (2005) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Fandango (2005) (Italy) (all media)
• Imovision (2005) (Brazil) (all media)
• Mr Bongo Films (2008) (UK) (DVD)
• trigon-film (2006) (Switzerland) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Soy Cuba, O Mamute Siberiano" - Brazil (original title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Russian | Spanish | Portuguese

Color:

Color | Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Brazil:10

Company:

Três Mundos Produções

Movie Connections:

Features I Am Cuba (1964)

A classic made better

I'll make a film in Cuba that will be my answer and the whole of the Soviet people's to the blockade and the cruel aggression of US imperialism - Mikhail Kalatozov.

Some thirty years on Kalatozov's masterpiece of Soviet Realist agitprop has been rediscovered and restored by a new generation of filmmakers including Scorsese and Coppola who can admire the artistry and technical brilliance of the director, Urusevsky, his unconventional DOP, and the cast of unknowns who manage to rise above a clichéd and ill conceived script to create a rare piece of visual poetry.

The DVD box set includes Ferraz's award winning documentary 'I am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth' in which the Brazilian filmmaker goes to Cuba in search of the surviving cast and crew to recreate a unique time when the revolution was fresh, the Cuban film industry was in its infancy, Che was making deals with Japanese film studios in return for sugar, and a naïve group of Soviet filmmakers came to the tropical island to lend a hand.

Kalatovoz's film bombed in Cuba due to the unaddressed cultural differences that existed between the Slavic filmmakers and their Caribbean counterparts, it was largely banned in the USSR for its depiction of the heady days US corruption, and was ignored in a hostile West, and the true highlight of this collection is when Ferraz reveals the films recent rehabilitation to a genuinely shocked cast and crew.

When the film was needed, it was ignored. When it's an archaeological artefact, it's rescued.