Sara Gómez Project
The Afro-Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez made 19 documentaries and a feature film in Cuba before her very untimely death at 34 in 1974. The VML is the global distributor for her films outside of North America. The Criterion Collection purchased the restorations from the VML and has the distribution rights for the films in North America, with a release on their streaming platform in early 2025. A boxed collection of the work on DVD is a forthcoming Criterion release. The films were digitized, restored, and subtitled at the Vulnerable Media Lab.
This project is the result of over 4 years of work undertaken in the VML by six graduate students, two post-doctoral fellows, and three undergraduate students. Her feature film, De Cierta Manera, was restored recently by Arsenal Berlin. The VML restored all the documentaries available from Cuba. Many of her films were neglected, in large part because she was a Black woman navigating the macho and racist culture of revolutionary Cuba in the 60’s and 70’s. Her films navigate complex experiences of social class, race, and gender by reframing revolutionary citizenship, cultural memory, and political value. Not only have her inventive strategies become foundational to new Cuban cinema and feminist film culture, but they also continue to inspire media artists today who deal with issues of identity and difference. This project raised interesting questions in film restoration, with the team at the VML working with heavily damaged film and encountering mold, dust, scratches, and conditions that speak to the precarious histories of the films. The restorations seek to make available the work of an important artist in the history of documentary and the politics of feminist filmmaking. The director of the VML, Susan Lord, has worked extensively on the work of Sara Gomez. Her book, The Cinema of Sara Gomez, Reframing Revolution, is available from Indiana University Press. There is currently an exhibition on Sara Gomez in Barcelona at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge.
