This thesis examines the trope of hunger in Cuban cinema produced during the socio-economic context known as the Special Period. Films selected for this discussion are Fresa y chocolate (1993) by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, and El Rey de La Habana (2015) by Agustí Villaronga. Focused on the analysis of the trope of hunger, this study offers a summary of the Cuban cultural manifestations of the last decades that have addressed the issue of hunger as well as a brief historical context that allows us to understand the development of this trope from 1960 to the present. Focused on the aforementioned films, this study has observed the aesthetic and stylistic particularities used in filmic representations to convey the island's shortcomings. The thesis demonstrates the existence of two main famines within Cuban society: cultural hunger and physiological hunger. Cultural hunger is studied in Fresa y chocolate as a direct consequence of the cultural control of the repressive ideological apparatus implanted in the sixties. The analysis of El Rey de la Habana shows how physiological hunger builds a marginal and abject subject, unable to escape the vicious circle that society has imposed on him. / Master of Arts / This thesis examines the trope of hunger in Cuban cinema produced during the socio-economic context known as the Special Period. Films selected for this discussion are Fresa y chocolate (1993) by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, and El Rey de La Habana (2015) by Agustí Villaronga. The trope of hunger in these films is analyzed in its multiple manifestations, whether literal or figurative, paying special attention to the aesthetic and stylistic particularities that they use to convey the island's shortcomings.

Neste trabalho analisamos a história do Instituto Cubano del Arte e Indústria Cinematográficos, primeiro organismo cultural criado após a Revolução cubana, e seu papel na política cultural, entre 1959 e 1991. Por meio da análise de documentos da política cultural, da revista Cine Cubano, além de depoimentos, críticas e alguns filmes que repercutiram especialmente os dilemas e questionamentos dos intelectuais cubanos, abordamos as tensões entre a política cultural oficial, o ICAIC e os projetos dos cineastas. Esse Instituto, pelo qual circularam muitos cineastas latino-americanos e europeus, foi palco de debates, disputas políticas e diversas polêmicas envolvendo filmes e tendências estéticas, como o realismo socialista e a nouvelle vague. Nossa tese é de que o ICAIC, pode ser considerado uma instituição privilegiada no meio cultural cubano, pois consolidou uma autonomia relativa em relação aos mecanismos de controle governamentais, por meio da ação dos cineastas e da mediação da direção do Instituto. Esta autonomia foi abalada, em diversos momentos, em função de fatores como a reestruturação do Estado, os fracassos econômicos e o acirramento do autoritarismo em Cuba, principalmente a partir dos anos 70. Ainda assim, o Instituto se readaptou às demandas políticas governamentais num jogo político de adesão e resistência à política cultural oficial, que tornou possível a produção de vários filmes ambíguos e críticos ao regime, ao longo desse período. / This work analyzes the history of the Cuban Institute for Art and Film Production (ICAIC) ? the first cultural organization created after the Cuban Revolution ? and its role in cultural policy between 1959 and 1991. Through the analysis of documents on cultural policy, the magazine Cine Cubano, in addition to testimonies, critiques and a set of films specifically relevant to the issues and dilemmas of Cuban intellectuals, the thesis delves into the tensions between official cultural policy, the ICAIC, and film makers? projects. Various Latin American and European film makers were involved with the institute, and it served as a forum for debate, political discussions and varied polemics related to film and aesthetic tendencies, including Socialist Realism and New Wave. The thesis proposes that ICAIC constituted a privileged institution in the Cuban cultural environment because ? through the action of film makers and the mediation of the Institute?s leadership ? it attained relative autonomy with respect to mechanisms of government control. This autonomy was unsettled, at different points, by factors such as state restructuring, economic failure and the entrenchment of authoritarianism in Cuba, especially from the 1970s onward. Still, the institute adapted to the demands of government policy through a political dynamic that alternated adhesion and resistance to official cultural policy, making possible the production of various films that were ambiguous and critical of the regime during that period.

Neste trabalho analisamos a história do Instituto Cubano del Arte e Indústria Cinematográficos, primeiro organismo cultural criado após a Revolução cubana, e seu papel na política cultural, entre 1959 e 1991. Por meio da análise de documentos da política cultural, da revista Cine Cubano, além de depoimentos, críticas e alguns filmes que repercutiram especialmente os dilemas e questionamentos dos intelectuais cubanos, abordamos as tensões entre a política cultural oficial, o ICAIC e os projetos dos cineastas. Esse Instituto, pelo qual circularam muitos cineastas latino-americanos e europeus, foi palco de debates, disputas políticas e diversas polêmicas envolvendo filmes e tendências estéticas, como o realismo socialista e a nouvelle vague. Nossa tese é de que o ICAIC, pode ser considerado uma instituição privilegiada no meio cultural cubano, pois consolidou uma autonomia relativa em relação aos mecanismos de controle governamentais, por meio da ação dos cineastas e da mediação da direção do Instituto. Esta autonomia foi abalada, em diversos momentos, em função de fatores como a reestruturação do Estado, os fracassos econômicos e o acirramento do autoritarismo em Cuba, principalmente a partir dos anos 70. Ainda assim, o Instituto se readaptou às demandas políticas governamentais num jogo político de adesão e resistência à política cultural oficial, que tornou possível a produção de vários filmes ambíguos e críticos ao regime, ao longo desse período. / This work analyzes the history of the Cuban Institute for Art and Film Production (ICAIC) ? the first cultural organization created after the Cuban Revolution ? and its role in cultural policy between 1959 and 1991. Through the analysis of documents on cultural policy, the magazine Cine Cubano, in addition to testimonies, critiques and a set of films specifically relevant to the issues and dilemmas of Cuban intellectuals, the thesis delves into the tensions between official cultural policy, the ICAIC, and film makers? projects. Various Latin American and European film makers were involved with the institute, and it served as a forum for debate, political discussions and varied polemics related to film and aesthetic tendencies, including Socialist Realism and New Wave. The thesis proposes that ICAIC constituted a privileged institution in the Cuban cultural environment because ? through the action of film makers and the mediation of the Institute?s leadership ? it attained relative autonomy with respect to mechanisms of government control. This autonomy was unsettled, at different points, by factors such as state restructuring, economic failure and the entrenchment of authoritarianism in Cuba, especially from the 1970s onward. Still, the institute adapted to the demands of government policy through a political dynamic that alternated adhesion and resistance to official cultural policy, making possible the production of various films that were ambiguous and critical of the regime during that period.