RETURN TO CUBA: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF WALKER EVANS

In his first commissioned body of work as a photographer (three years before he travelled to Hale County, Alabama, to complete the seminal depression era work for Roy Stryker at the Farm Security Administration and the collaboration with James Agee that led to the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men), Walker Evans travelled to Cuba in 1933 to document the conditions of the Machado regime for Carleton Beal’s book The Crime of Cuba. His work documented a fragile period of Cuba’s history—beautifully and honestly depicting the poverty, political turmoil, and cultural complexities. Evans also spent two weeks in the company of Ernest Hemingway, who allegedly paid for Evans to extend his stay in the country to socialize and continue photographing.

A vibrant, insightful documentary, Return to Cuba chronicles a special project that brought world-renowned photographers to Cuba, just weeks before the historic U.S.-Cuba reconciliation, to retrace the footsteps of the legendary photographer and reinterpret his iconic 1930s images at a new historical tipping point.

Director Ross McDermott intertwines Evans’s pre-Castro Cuba with the busy streets of Havana and the countryside of Viñales. From the quick yet studied street-style photography of Sam Abell to the uncommon camera-obscura practices of Abelardo Morell, some photographers closely re-photograph the locations of Evans’ work, while others take a more interpretive approach.

Return to Cuba: In the Footsteps of Walker Evans captures a pivotal moment in Cuba’s history and provides a beautiful and lively journey to a country on the edge of massive political, cultural, and economic change.

Official Selection, Camden International Film Festival

“Highly recommended. Wonderful. Useful for classes in area studies, Cuban history, and the art of photography, this movie provides a number of angles and directions for use in high school and academia.” – Educational Media Reviews Online