Nicolás Guillén Landrián Restored

Nicolás Guillén Landrián (1938, Camagüey, Cuba -2003, Miami, Florida) was an Afro-Cuban filmmaker, painter and poet. The nephew of Nicolás Guillén, Cuba’s national poet, Landrián worked at the Cuban National Film Institute (ICAIC) from the early 1960s to the early 1970s, making short newsreels and documentaries. A gifted director with an uncommon creative sensibility, Landrián was committed to a highly personal cinematic vision, which included an unapologetic focus on Afro-Cuban life and culture. This vision frequently put Landrián at odds with the Cuban state and the principles of the Revolution. His films were bowdlerised and eventually suppressed, and Landrián was sent to prison camps where he was subjected to psychiatric treatment. In 1989 Landrián went into exile in the United States, where he died in 2003.

Over the last two decades Landrián’s pioneering work slowly began to re-emerge. Led by the filmmaker Ernesto Daranas, several of Landrián’s key films have been re-edited and restored. This programme presents four of these films, showcasing the breadth of Landrián’s distinctive style and his thematic concerns. Also being presented is Landrián (2023), a new documentary by Ernesto Daranas, a revealing and moving exploration of Landrián’s life and work.