I will not put a list of 10, 9 or 8, this list is not about that, but rather about telling you which Cuban films I love, and well if you dare to see them better. Cuban cinema has had great teachers; unfortunately it is still a very macho environment. Many will tell me no, I worked and I know that world inside, I know what I'm talking about, although the few appearance of women directors in the history of Cuban cinema speaks for itself.

The history of cinema in Cuba tells us about Sara Gómez, the only director mentioned and who made only one film: In a certain way (De cierta manera), 1974. To make matters worse, she died during the filming of the play. Tomás Gutierres Alea (better known as Titón) and Julio Garcia Espinosa were in charge of finishing the film; two other greats of cinema in Cuba. Therefore, the first film that I will leave you will be this, where Sara managed to combine documentary with fiction very well. She worked with real characters who represented himself and also used actors. I wish he had given us more films, the vision of the Cuban woman was somewhat put aside.

Although honestly it was not so, my favorite director Humberto Solás, with his works, gave the voice to women, looking at the past, looking at the present and many times projecting a future in which we decided. The film that most reflects this is Lucía from 1968, a masterpiece is the whole extension of the word. The story unfolds in three momentous in the history of Cuba; 1895 where Lucía places us in the War of Independence. Then we jump to the fights against Gerardo Machado in 1933. Finally, Lucía is shown in the third and last story, which takes place after 1959. The vision of each of the stories, played by 3 great actresses, puts us in the context of the present of 1968 and projects us to many other Lucías.

For many, Tomás Gutierres Alea (Titón) is the best film director in Cuba; I personally disagree on this, there is a lot of good cinema of an era and then more cinema. But hey Titón was a genius, that must be said. Strawberry and Chocolate (Fresa y Chocolate), 1993, is the most iconic film, which in addition to Titón was directed by Juan Carlos Tabío. Both knew how to bring this story to the big screen in an exceptional way from a story by Senel Paz. The film focuses on the relationship between David, a young communist militant, and Diego, an artist, religious and homosexual; all this in the middle of a country involved in a crisis of various kinds. There are many dark chapters in the history of Cuba, one of them is the persecution of people for their sexual orientation, in addition to religious and political persecution; to the vision of Cuban communism this did not go with the ideal of a new man.

Cuban cinema did not stop, quite the contrary, it is still alive and that is how we find the film Conduct (Conducta), directed by Ernesto Daranas in 2012. The film tells us the story of Carmela, a teacher with a lot of experience, but who is at about to leave the magisterium. This teacher's relationship with her students is special, especially with Chala, an 11-year-old boy who lives with a drug-addicted mother. The social context in which this film takes place is the context of 70 percent of children in Cuba. Many people think that it is paradise on earth, but Cuba is far from that, and it is still an underdeveloped country run by people who care little about childhood and who make the world believe that it is the fault of the United States government.

This is how we come to a 2021 film, Plantados, directed by Lilo Vilaplana, is a film that narrates the horrors of the political prison in Cuba and that does justice to those Cubans who do not agree with the dictatorial administration of the Castros; for which they are besieged and condemned. Although it tells us about a particular time, it is very current, since in Cuba people go out to the streets to ask for freedom and end up being imprisoned, tortured, etc.

It is a list that I make, exposing various parts of the history of a country, and many more are missing. I think there are as many versions of Cuba as there are experiences and lives. Everyone is free to think and feel in democracy, however in Cuba this is not the case.