29th March +2
What I’d like to see is Article 50 being revoked, but I don’t expect that to happen yet, if at all. So we need something to happen this week to persuade the EU to grant a long extension. (That of … Continue reading
Author Archives: michaelc
Happy Birthday Santiago Alvarez
Happy Birthday Santiago Alvarez Born 18 March 1919, Havana Died 20 May 1998, Havana Santiago Alvarez was not speaking metaphorically when he said that the Revolution made him a filmmaker. Before the creation of Cuba’s revolutionary film institute in 1959 … Continue reading
Posted in Cuba, Cultural Politics, Documentary, Film matters, Latin America
Tagged Cuba, Documentary, Film Studies
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Remembering Eric Salzman
News arrives of the death at age 84 of the American composer Eric Salzman, who appeared in my film ‘The Politics of Music’ (1972). My mind goes back not only to the filming but to the following summer when I … Continue reading
Election surprises and imponderables
A friend in Mexico asks me about the election. Can the left win? This is what I write back. Gramsci’s famous dictum is very relevant: pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will. Objectively it doesn’t look like Labour can … Continue reading
Election Call: Politics out of sync
The mainstream media seem to have already decided. The Tories can’t fail to win. Labour is going to be routed. Yet Mrs May’s opportunist election call is a signal of her weakness in the face of Brexit, belated recognition … Continue reading
Unexploded bombs
On Friday, here on the riverside at Putney, they started setting up the outside broadcast cameras for the Boat Race, the annual jamboree when Putney gets to be briefly seen on screens around the world. A strange object appeared looming … Continue reading
Cuba: After the Burial
A more interesting question to ask after his death is not what Fidel Castro was – a revolutionary hero? a tyrannical dictator? a beneficent dictator? – but who would now call themselves a Fidelista and what will become of Fidelismo? … Continue reading
Posted in Cuba, Cultural Politics, Film matters, Politics
Tagged Cuba, Film Festival, Money, Politics
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Fidel Castro 1926-2016
No-one ever frightened the powers-that-be in Washington more than Fidel Castro. No-one ever challenged their hegemony more effectively, not just with his powerful rhetoric but above all in action, driving out a dictator and installing socialism ninety miles south of … Continue reading
Posted in Cuba, Cultural Politics, Film matters
Tagged Cuba, Latin America
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Questions about ‘Money Puzzles
Some questions I’ve been asked about ‘Money Puzzles’, ahead of the first UK screenings in Crewe, London and Liverpool over the next few days. What are the origins of ‘Money Puzzles’ and how do they fit in with your background … Continue reading
Posted in Capitalism, Debtology, Documentary, Notice, Politics
Tagged Argentina, Capitalism, Debt, Documentary, Greece, Money, Politics, Protest, Resistance
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Stop ¡Basta!
For over fifty years, radical and independent filmmakers across Latin America have been making films targeting the history of Latin America’s domination by imperialist powers and above all, in the twentieth century, the USA, whose methods have been economic exploitation, … Continue reading
Posted in Cultural Politics, Latin America, Politics, Protests
Tagged Latin America, Protest, Resistance
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