---
name: "Tomás Gutiérrez Alea"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/tomas-gutierrez-alea"
fi1m_id: "tomas-gutierrez-alea"
imdb_id: "nm0349425"
tmdb_id: 72646
wikidata_id: "Q722461"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "11 December 1928"
died: "16 April 1996"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T16:41:29.765953+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Tomás Gutiérrez Alea

## Identity

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/tomas-gutierrez-alea
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** tomas-gutierrez-alea
- **IMDb ID:** nm0349425
- **TMDB ID:** 72646
- **Wikidata ID:** Q722461
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%A1s_Guti%C3%A9rrez_Alea, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q722461, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0349425/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/72646

Director. Born 11 December 1928 in Havana, Cuba. Died 16 April 1996.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 11 December 1928, Havana, Cuba
- **Died:** 16 April 1996
- **Also known as:** Томас Гутиеррес Алеа, Titón
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%A1s_Guti%C3%A9rrez_Alea, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q722461, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0349425/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/72646

## Biography

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was a Cuban film director and screenwriter. Born in Havana in 1928, he studied law at the University of Havana before training in film at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome from 1951 to 1953. After the 1959 Cuban Revolution, he co-founded the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC) and directed the regime’s first official feature, *Stories of the Revolution* (1960).

His best-known works include *Death of a Bureaucrat* (1966), *Memories of Underdevelopment* (1968), which he also wrote, and *Strawberry and Chocolate* (1993). He directed more than twenty features, documentaries and shorts, often balancing support for the revolution with critical examination of its social and political effects. Gutiérrez Alea died in Havana in 1996.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com, nytimes.com, criterion.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Memories of Underdevelopment* (1968), Fi1m 84, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/memories-of-underdevelopment.md)

## Complete filmography (29)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Titón: From Havana to Guantanamera, 1928-1996* (2008), as Interviewee (archival footage)
- *Guantanamera* (1995), Director, Writer
- *Strawberry and Chocolate* (1993), Director
- *Con el amor no se juega* (1991), Director
- *Contigo en la distancia* (1991), Director
- *Letters from the Park* (1989), Director, Writer
- *Up to a Certain Point* (1983), Director, Screenplay, Story
- *The Survivors* (1979), Director, Screenplay
- *The Other Francisco* (1977), Writer
- *One Way or Another* (1977), as Dramaturgy
- *La sexta parte del mundo* (1977), Director
- *The Last Supper* (1976), Director, Screenplay
- *El camino de la mirra y el incienso* (1975), Director
- *El arte del tabaco* (1974), Director
- *A Cuban Fight Against Demons* (1972), Director, Story, Screenplay
- *Memories of Underdevelopment* (1968), Director, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/memories-of-underdevelopment.md)
- *Death of a Bureaucrat* (1966), Director, Story, Screenplay
- *Cumbite* (1964), Director, Writer
- *The End* (1964), Actor
- *The Twelve Chairs* (1962), Director, Screenplay
- *Muerte al invasor* (1962), Editor, Director
- *Stories of the Revolution* (1960), Director, Screenplay
- *General Assembly* (1960), Director
- *This Is Our Land* (1959), Editor, Director, Additional Writing
- *The Sand Dune* (1955), as Additional Writing · Co-Director
- *Il sogno de Giovanni Bassain* (1953), Director, Screenplay
- *A Daily Mix-up* (1950), Director, Screenplay
- *El Faquir* (1947), Director
- *La Caperucita Roja* (1947), Director

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/tomas-gutierrez-alea