As a lead up to The Institute’s 50th birthday, on the 4th Wednesday of each month IPS will host a film series featuring eleven of the widely respected film productions of our colleague, Saul. After each screening participants will have the opportunity to discuss the films with distinguished guests.

Saul Landau, is an Emmy-winning, internationally-known scholar, author, commentator, and filmmaker on foreign and domestic policy issues. Landau’s most widely praised achievements are the over forty films he has produced on social, political and historical issues, and worldwide human rights, for which he won the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award, the George Polk Award for Investigative Reporting, and the First Amendment Award, as well as an Emmy for Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang.

The Uncompromising Revolution (1988) There’s something oddly fascinating about THE UNCOMPROMISING REVOLUTION, that looks at current-day, 30 years after Fidel Castro’s nationalist revolution. It shows the people, landscapes, large and small themes, to show the texture of Cuba after three decades of revolution. Weaving together archive footage, occasional flashbacks from earlier Landau pictures, recent personal interviews with Castro and scores of on-the-street and on-location interviews with women, professionals and workers. Landau tries to capture filmically what political scientists have tried to do empirically, that is, to understand Cuba 30 years after the revolution. Unlike his earlier films about Cuba, this one shatters any romantic notions about revolution. Cuba is more like a normal country. Although most people seem thoroughly convinced that the Cuban style of socialism if preferable to any other form of government, it is not any more with the enthusiasm of the years shortly after the revolution. A 102 years-old woman recalls the days of the Spaniards and the arrival of the Americans in 1898. The black and white images of history, marines charging San Juan hill, occupying the island, gambling and having fun in the casino’s – make clear why Cubans remember their history and why the Americans and the rest of the world seem to have forgotten it.

These screenings are free and open to the public but a suggested $5 donation will be appreciated. Popcorn and beverages will be provided. Please note: The location for any particular screening may vary. Please let us know you’re coming by sending an RSVP to netfa@ips-dc.org.

Films in the Series:

• September 26 – The Uncompromising Revolution (1988)
• October 24 –The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas (1997)
• November 28 – WE DON’T PLAY GOLF HERE and other stories of globalization (2007)
• January 23, 2013 – Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up (2011)