Directing

Manuel Octavio Gómez

Born 1934-11-14 · Havana, Cuba

Manuel Octavio Gómez was a Cuban film director and screenwriter, recognized for his contributions to Cuban cinema during the post-revolutionary period. He began his career in the 1960s, directing documentaries and short films that reflected the social and political changes in Cuba. Gómez's notable works include La primera carga al machete (1969), a film depicting the Cuban War of Independence, and Los días del agua (1971), which explores themes of faith and superstition. His films are characterized by their innovative narrative techniques and commitment to social realism, making significant contributions to Latin American cinema.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Mella poster
NR

Experimental historical film, with documentary elements. A study of the conceptual development of the young hero Julio Antonio Mella, founder of the Communist Party of Cuba, from the process of the Student Reforms to his assassination in Mexico at the age of 25, in the arms of the Italian photographer Tina Modotti.

Mella

1975

No artwork available
NR

Documentary addressing the difficulties that arose in the city of Nuevitas (Camagüey) between 1964 and 1967, due to the industrial development promoted in the territory, which led to an unexpected population growth in just a few months.

Nuevitas

1969

No artwork available
NR

Documentary addressing the difficulties that arose in the city of Nuevitas (Camagüey) between 1964 and 1967, due to the industrial development promoted in the territory, which led to an unexpected population growth in just a few months.

Nuevitas

1969

Tulipa poster
5.4

Tulipa, an old strip-teaser from a traveling circus, is replaced by a younger, more wild woman. She must teach the job to her successor or cling to an act that she values as true art.

Tulipa

1967

Gallego poster
6.0

An adolescent leaves his homeland to emigrate to Cuba in 1916. The film covers his life until the 1960s and at the same time reflects on the history of the country that becomes his second homeland.

Gallego

1988

No artwork available
NR

Within a year, illiteracy on Cuba was eliminated thanks to the literacy brigades: an army of 100,000 youth people who set out with chalk and blackboards under their arms. Historia de una batalla follows them during their activities. The film also shows how the Cuban people devoted themselves to the economic progress of the country, and how they resisted the invasion at the Bay of Pigs.

Story of a Battle

1962

Patakin Means Fable poster
9.0

Socialist musical comedy made in Cuba

Patakin Means Fable

1985

Patakin Means Fable poster
9.0

Socialist musical comedy made in Cuba

Patakin Means Fable

1985

Ustedes tienen la palabra poster
7.0

Rebuild, in the same place of events, a trial held in 1969 to four men, accused of sabotage for having caused the fire of a forest plan that caused the death of eight people and large material losses. At the same time, it analyzes retrospectively the circumstances that contributed to the occurrence of the crime.

Ustedes tienen la palabra

1973

The First Charge of the Machete poster
6.9

Cuban peasants wield machetes in a violent uprising against Spanish authorities in the late 19th century.

The First Charge of the Machete

1969

The First Charge of the Machete poster
6.9

Cuban peasants wield machetes in a violent uprising against Spanish authorities in the late 19th century.

The First Charge of the Machete

1969

No artwork available
5.5

This Cuban feature examines the circumstances arising out of a woman's claim to have seen the Virgin Mary and to have been healed by waters from a nearby stream. In an accelerating storm of cynical opportunism, her sincere beliefs are exploited by businessmen, politicians and military men. Rival groups compete to exploit the hysteria the vision causes, and the chaos culminates in a revolution. Striking imagery and skillful camerawork enhance this feature.

The Days of Water

1971

No artwork available
5.5

This Cuban feature examines the circumstances arising out of a woman's claim to have seen the Virgin Mary and to have been healed by waters from a nearby stream. In an accelerating storm of cynical opportunism, her sincere beliefs are exploited by businessmen, politicians and military men. Rival groups compete to exploit the hysteria the vision causes, and the chaos culminates in a revolution. Striking imagery and skillful camerawork enhance this feature.

The Days of Water

1971

No artwork available
10.0

Adaptation of the famous novel, impassioned denunciation of the Guatemalan dictator Manuel Estrada Cabrera.

Mr. President

1983

La tierra y el cielo poster
9.0

Pedro, a young black man born into a family of Haitians who emigrated to Cuba, returns to his town and notes the changes that the new times have brought.

La tierra y el cielo

1977

No artwork available
8.0

A young sociologist returns to Nuevitas, his hometown, to investigate the transformations taking place there, brought about by the advance of the revolutionary process. Disagreeing with the way his predecessor worked, he tries to change it and discovers the complexity of human relationships, social problems, and the sexist and racial prejudices she had to face.

Woman, Man, City

1978