En un barrio viejo (1963) is a short film that reveals Landrián’s talent for capturing the atmosphere and the inhabitants of La Havana area with prodigious synthesis and without resorting to interviews or a reiterative narration. At the suggestion of his documentary instructor Theodor Christensen, Landrián left Havana for the far province of Baracoa in 1965, where he found inspiration in the beauty of the surroundings and its people. Thus the “Baracoa trilogy” emerges, in which Ociel del Toa and Los del baile stand out thanks to their tremendous visual impact. The use of still photographs, signs and photo-animation are stylistic constants that reach their highest peak in the classic Coffea Arábiga (1968), an example of how he was able to turn a commissioned work on a subject that did not interest him into a masterpiece for its neverending imaginative display.

Luciano Castillo