Sunday, August 8, 2010, 5:00 pm, $6
CUBA: AN AFRICAN ODYSSEY (Part 1: Congo and Guinea Bissau)
In this ambitious and revealing documentary, Egyptian-French filmmaker Jihan El-Tahri traces the history of Cuban solidarity with African liberation movements in the 1960s and 70s. It begins in 1965 when Che Guevara led a group of Cuban revolutionary fighters in an unsuccessful attempt to support the struggle for true independence in the Congo. It then moves to Cuban’s role in the struggles against Portuguese/NATO colonialism in Guinea-Bissau and Angola.
Cuba: An African Odyssey combines remarkable archival footage—much of it never before seen in the U.S.—with an amazing cast of participants showing Cuba’s pivotal role in the liberation movements in Africa. Over 300,000 Cubans fought alongside African revolutionaries, one of many examples of Cuba’s true internationalism.