Cinematic nightscapes

Documentary and ethnographic filmmaking in Cuba

Eleonora Diamanti, Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781526148841
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526148834
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Film & Video
• Index: Social Sciences

Cinematic nightscapes explores how the darkness of night in contemporary Cuba becomes a powerful site for political expression, cultural imagination and artistic experimentation. As the rhythms of the day give way to night, a different Cuba emerges, one where protests take shape, marginalized voices reclaim space, and filmmakers reimagine ethnographic and documentary storytelling. This book offers a sensorial and creative journey through Cuban documentary films that engage with the night not just as backdrop, but as a central character—shaping emotions, aesthetics and socio-political discourse. Blending theory with rich visual analysis, Cinematic Nightscapes asks: How does the night alter ethnographic practice? How do Cuban filmmakers use the night to imagine new futures? Through a reflexive, multimodal approach, the book invites readers to experience the complexities of nocturnal life in Cuba, where darkness illuminates new possibilities.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue: reflections on fieldwork and filmmaking at night
• Introduction: filmmaking the night
• 1 Cuidar los valores – Caring for values
• 2 Cuba y la noche – Cuba and the night
• 3 Night as underworld
• 4 Evoking the invisible: experiments in editing
• Conclusion: after the end of day
• References
• Index