STEVE JOHNSON recommends that you catch an unforgettable tribute to Woody Guthrie
Screen Cuba, Take Two
Festival Coordinators TRISH MEEHAN and DODIE WEPPLER introduce some of the highlights of Screen Cuba Film Festival 2025
MARJORIE MAYO recommends a punchy demonstration of the the way class politics are being fragmented by the right
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends a deliciously dark thriller that explores the complex loyalties within a marriage
JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Last Breath, Sister Midnight, Opus, and The Electric State
HENRY BELL is moved by the account of scientists under seige in Leningrad who preferred to starve rather than sacrifice their life-saving work
RUTH AYLETT recommends two anthologies: one that bears witness to refugee and immigrant experiences, and the other to our political relationship to water
THE second edition of Screen Cuba: Films to change the world comes to UK cinema screens this month. Celebrating the remarkable achievements of Cuban cinema, the festival again offers a selection of outstanding contemporary films, as well as those produced over the last six decades.
The political importance cannot be overestimated. Cuban film-makers, like the rest of the island, are facing formidable challenges. The blockade against Cuba will undoubtedly deepen under the new Trump administration, and resources and distribution networks will become ever scarcer. These severe conditions are compounded with the island’s recent hurricanes and electricity outages.
It is against these incredibly difficult conditions that the ongoing “Battle of Ideas” continues to take place. Fidel Castro first spoke of the Battle of Ideas in 2001 in the context of the struggle to win hearts and minds over the fight for the return of Cuban child Elian Gonzalez, who was being held in the US without his father’s consent.
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