Special Collections Internship at the University of Central Florida
Week 11 New Information
Searching Anything Else
I talked to the Senior Archivist Burak Ogreten and he showed me a few posters from the José Guerra Alemán collection. One of the items was a cinematography poster that José Guerra Alemán directed when he founded his company called CINEPERIODICO. The film was supposedly called Sangre and Esperanza (Blood and Hope) and it is based on the harassment of the G-2 (military term for the main state intelligence agency of the Government of Cuba) (Fig. 1). With the help of his other counterparts, José García and Eduardo Hernández (Guayo), he created many documentary films based on the theme of independence from colonialism and imperialism. However, his work does not seem to be mentioned on the internet. I have google searched in general and in the search box from imdb.com. His films do not appear. The historical films cannot be found so easily or many of them are hard to retrieve.
José Guerra Alemán was not a man who liked doing interviews, but I found a man named Orlando Jiménez Leal who worked for him as a cameraman. He did an interview where he appeared on the show called "La Mirada Indiscreta (The Indiscreet Look)." In the interview, the interviewer showed a film directed by José Guerra Alemán called "El Gran Recuento (The Great Story)." The film premiered on the first months in 1959 and was later banned from Castro and his administration. Orlando shared that José Guerra Alemán was adventurous and well-prepared. Alemán worked years to make the film "El Gran Recuento." He did not tell his crew of the topic until a few days before filming.
Check out the video. A piece of the film starts around 4:02. You can see José Guerra Alemán throughout the video such as 36:42. Warning- The whole video is in Spanish.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/60259173
Searching Anything Else
I talked to the Senior Archivist Burak Ogreten and he showed me a few posters from the José Guerra Alemán collection. One of the items was a cinematography poster that José Guerra Alemán directed when he founded his company called CINEPERIODICO. The film was supposedly called Sangre and Esperanza (Blood and Hope) and it is based on the harassment of the G-2 (military term for the main state intelligence agency of the Government of Cuba) (Fig. 1). With the help of his other counterparts, José García and Eduardo Hernández (Guayo), he created many documentary films based on the theme of independence from colonialism and imperialism. However, his work does not seem to be mentioned on the internet. I have google searched in general and in the search box from imdb.com. His films do not appear. The historical films cannot be found so easily or many of them are hard to retrieve.
 |
| Fig. 1. "Sangre Y Esperanza La Cuba de Hoy." (Courtesy of University of Central Florida Speical Collections and Jose Guerra Alemán's son.) |
José Guerra Alemán was not a man who liked doing interviews, but I found a man named Orlando Jiménez Leal who worked for him as a cameraman. He did an interview where he appeared on the show called "La Mirada Indiscreta (The Indiscreet Look)." In the interview, the interviewer showed a film directed by José Guerra Alemán called "El Gran Recuento (The Great Story)." The film premiered on the first months in 1959 and was later banned from Castro and his administration. Orlando shared that José Guerra Alemán was adventurous and well-prepared. Alemán worked years to make the film "El Gran Recuento." He did not tell his crew of the topic until a few days before filming.
Check out the video. A piece of the film starts around 4:02. You can see José Guerra Alemán throughout the video such as 36:42. Warning- The whole video is in Spanish.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/60259173
José Guerra Alemán was my father. Most of what this author writes is very true with the exception of the time line. Cineperiódico was founded in January of 1950 whereas the film referred to Sangre y Esperanza was made in 1960, the same year he emigrated to Mexico moving to Miami in 1961. My father known to his friends as Pepin, was a World War II veteran, volunteered to join the war in 1943. He was the grandson of Mayor General José Braulio Alemán y Urquia hero of the Spanish American War, principal author of the last Cuban Constitution at La Yara in 1897-98 prior to the Cuban independence. A constitution well ahead of its times granting equal rights to all, the right of suffrage and the rights of all citizens to an education as well as the rights of free speech and free press.
ReplyDeleteMy father Pepin wrote a book documenting his grandfather's life named "Juro, pero no prometo". In addition my father was the first cuban reporter to interview Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in the Sierra Maestra mountains in 1958, which led later to his book "Barro y Cenizas"
(Diálogos con Fidel Castro y Che Guevara).
For any further inquiries I may be reached at:
Admin@cubainfinita.com