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Still image from Sunny Cuba via Chicago Film Archives.

Identifier:

  • F.2007-08-0005 (Source: Chicago Film Archives)
  • F.2007-08-0003 (Source: Chicago Film Archives)

Date produced: 1946

Filmmaker(s):

Julian Gromer

Country of Production:

United States

Languages:

English

Duration:

00:52:34

Format:

16mm

Colour:

Colour

Sound Notes:

Silent

Awards/Recognition:

Chicago Film Archives list of titled amateur films

Description:

"2 part edited travelogue of the industries and everyday life in featured cities of Cuba. Part 1 begins in Havana before travelling to smaller cities, with a focus on buildings, crops and the everyday lives of the people. Part 2 primarily focuses on industry and includes scenes of a tile factory, basket weaving, as well as the farming of potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, and peanuts. The film also features historical monuments, boating, children at school, cock fights, vendors selling wares, and fishing. People demonstrate manual methods of labor like harvesting crops and cutting grass with machines lead by cattle." Chicago Film Archives.

Resources:

This film is a part of the Julian Gromer Collection held by Chicago Film Archives.

Locations:

  • Havana, Cuba (Filming)
  • Artemisa, Cuba (Filming)
  • Pinar Del Rio, Cuba (Filming)
  • Santiago de Cuba, Cuba (Filming)
  • Preston, Cuba (Filming)
  • Santa Clara, Cuba (Filming)
  • Varadero, Cuba (Filming)
  • Matanzas, Cuba (Filming)

Subjects:

Genre:

Form:

Tags:

Repository:

Julian Gromer Collection, Chicago Film Archives

Screenings:

  • Screened by the Rockford Movie Makers in 1946: Rockford, IL
  • Screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute on Dec. 12, 2010: Chicago, IL

Viewing Notes:

"PART 1/2 00:01 - RA, two men walking down a beach. Titles. A long line of people in winter wear pretend to pile into one car. Var. aerial views of Cuba from the plane. Var. Havana streets, buildings and coastline in LS. Includes the Capital Building, Grand Theatre, statue of Jose Marti, monument to the victims of the battleship Maine. 05:40 - Closer views of the city. Narrow streets, people getting on a long line of buses, cycling, a citrus vendor, MS of Cathedral Church, an avenue of palm trees, var. whitewashed residences. PAN of a cemetary, MS of var. grave monuments. Street vendors selling toys in MS with CU of var. toys. 11:42 - Men playing jai alai in MS and LS. ES of Gran Stadium, LS PAN of baseball field during the game. MLS of pitcher and batter, CU and MS views of the crowd and vendors. MCU of a man and woman speaking, girls embroidering outside with a CU on their work, MS of a boy painting wood cut outs. 15:55 - Exterior of a house. Woman cooking in the kitchen MS and CU, family sitting down to eat and relaxing after dinner; playing with a dollhouse, board games, poker, playing piano, sewing, listening to the radio. CU var. neon signs fading in and out over each other. 20:02 - TS from windshield travelling to Artemisa. LS of a large residence. Oxen pulling a small wooden plow, men hoeing rows in a field and watering plants. Time laspe of plants sprouting. Among rows of pineapple plants, with CU on budding fruit. Var. exotic fruits and flowers in CU and on the tree. 25:24 - TS on dusty road to Pinar Del Rio. Locals travelling on the street by carts, buggies and horseback. Men unloading bananas from a truck, CU of children sitting at the curb. Woman mopping a floor with CU of decorative tiles. 28:16 - ELS PAN of Vinales Valley and var. scenic views of the mogotes. MS of var. small houses in the region, repairing a thatched roof in LS and MS. Men at work; in a field, pounding grains, harvesting and bundling tobacco. 33:06 - TS on the road to Santiago de Cuba. Var. narrow street and alleys. Var. pedestrians and residents in MS and CU. PAN of var. whitewashed houses. Men playing dominos MS and MCU. Var. MS and CU of flowers; bougainvilleas, hibiscus. rose PART 2/2 00:00 - CU man peeling apple with machine, VS couple walking through park of monuments, statues, canons, gravestones 01:25 - VS men in factory/workshop, step by step making decorative tiles, mixing power and dyes together to make paint/glaze, pouring colors into molds, layering clay onto colors, pressing in machine into tile, man installing tiles on floor 07:18 - MS people boarding tour boat, PAN to cruise ship, boat POV TS forested islands, houses, boats and docks along shoreline, HA LS houses around bay, PAN boats on water at dusk 10:11 - CU map, Preston, SA men buying fruit from train, RSA train pulling away, people standing around parked caboose/trolley, PAN factory with palm trees, handheld PAN large group of children in nice clothes and uniforms, walk single file into school building, Var MLS buildings, houses, landscaping, MLS man guiding four cattle pulling large manual grass cutting machine 13:09 - CU map, Holguin, LS mountain with stairs up to top, VS children racing up steps, RA couple at top of mountain temple, PAN landscape, MLS religious cross on hill at dusk with clouds moving quickly above 14:49 - RA MS car driving on flooded dirt road, MS, CU woman weaving baskets 16:26 - MS men harvesting peanuts, CU man opening and eating peanuts, MS digging up potatoes, man cutting bark off sugar cane, eats it, man cuts down a banana tree with machete, picks bundle of bananas 18:32 - CU map, Santa Clara, MS roads with cars and horse and buggies, MS man holding rooster, swings it around taunting another rooster, men gathered around at cock fight, weigh roosters in bags, prep them for fight, HA cock fight in dirt ring, PAN men in straw hats watching 22:07 - CU map, Sugar Mill, MLS men harvesting sugar cane with machetes, PAN cane fields, cows with carts, MS farmers eating cane, oranges, MS man on horse talks to farmers who bundle up cane and load onto cart, MS cattle pull full cart back to factory where it is unloaded onto conveyor belt 26:22 - CU map, Varadero, MS older man an woman walking in ocean, man and boy paddle up in row boat, drag a huge fish out of boat onto beach, CU three fish in sand, MS woman selling sea shell art, MS-LS man on horseback on beach, MLS grass umbrellas, VS sunset with dark purple clouds and palm trees 29:12 - CU map, Matanzas, VS PAN mountain landscape 30:02-31:14 - CU map, capital Havana, CU apple peeling machine, MLS men unloading cargo from plane, MLS man buys apples from vendor, people load plane, man with apples runs on to board last, plane window POV HA clouds and wing of plane, “Hasta La Vista”," via Chicago Film Archives.

Video Link:

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