The film industry changed dramatically after the revolution. Before Batista's dictatorship was overthrown, Cuban cinema faced many difficulties. The United States had a very strong influence on the films being made, as many of the movies were actually filmed in the in the U.S. Many Cubans found the movies being made as another country's perspective of Cuba, and came to resent the false portrayals. The U.S. and Mexico mostly controlled everything from production to distribution of the films. Despite this, movies were still extremely popular for the Cubans that had access to them. However, those who live in rural areas did not have the option of seeing movies. The true boom for Cuban film occurred when the revolution was over and Castro had overthrown the Batista dictatorship. Three months after this occurred, the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, also known as the ICAIC, was founded. This institute was vital for the movie industry in Cuba. Cas!.
tro was a huge proponent of the television and film industry made sure that is would be well established in his country. He felt it was an essential tool for revolution, which was most of the films made at that time would focus on. In 1968, the film called "The Underdevelopment of Cuba", was directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea, who was also one of the leaders of the ICAIC. This film was considered the greatest films of all time. This movie was actually a documentary and paved the way for films of this type to become the most popular genre in Cuba. There are so many types of documentaries in Cuban film, that they could be divided into one of five categories: historical, cultural, domestic politics, international relations, and didactic. Within these categories, there are two themes that are prominent, being history and underdevelopment. Something else that stands out when referring to Cuban cinema is the fact that, because funds were limited, film makers turned to past sources of media, such as recorded speeches and new archives to make their films and was the was the case with "The Underdevelopment of Cuba".
