ROOFTOP SCENE: I AM CUBA / 1964
Directed Mikhail Kalatozov
On its release, I am Cuba — a propaganda film shot during the Cuban missle crisis — was not received well by either the Russian or Cuban public and was almost completely forgotten until it was re-discovered by filmmakers in the United States 30 years later. The movie's acrobatic tracking shots and idiosyncratic mise en scene prompted Hollywood directors like Martin Scorsese to begin a campaign to restore the movie in the early 1990s. In this rooftop scene, the camera descends from high atop a Havana hotel to underwater in the pool. (Please excuse the overlaid DJ soundtrack.)

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