Cuba: The People, Part I

1974, 58:14 min, color, sound

Termed "the best look at Cuba since Castro toppled the Batista regime" by the news agency United Press International, this ground-breaking work of international advocacy journalism was one of the first independently produced documentaries to be broadcast on national television. As the first American television crew to be allowed into Cuba since the 1959 revolution, DCTV toured the country for six weeks to produce this candid portrait of life in Castro's Cuba. With his direct approach, Alpert interviews ordinary people — farmers, factory workers, housewives — to elicit their stories of life before and after the revolution. Produced with one of the first 1/2- inch color video systems available, Cuba: The People, Part I also made broadcast history as the first 1/2-inch color videotape to be aired nationally on public television.

Writer/Narrator: Jon Alpert. WNET Interview/Introduction: Harrison Salisbury. Produced in association with WNET/Thirteen.