Summary: The films of Cuban director Santiago Alvarez exist as a kind of fractured mirror on the last 40 years of american history-a subversive alternate history. In a film career that began only with the trimph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and continued until his death in 1998 at the age of 79, Alvarez created nearly 700 films. Lacking formal training of any sort, Alvarez was appointed head of the fledgling Cuban Film Institute's now legendary newsreel division, Noticiero ICAIC. Under his command for the next 30+ years, the banal and utilitarian newsreel was transformed into a veritable laboratory of radical innovation. Working under extremely tight temporal and material constraints, Alvarez became a master of improvisation. He combines the use of limited found materials-archival footage and photographs-with a dynamic graphic sensibility, bold and unexpected music-image pairings, and a highly contemporary use of rapid-fire editing. Fusing the avant-garde with popular culture, he synthesized a film style as revolutionary as the changes sweeping his society. Extreme Low Frequency is proud to present eight stunning works by this overlooked master.