THE CUBAN MASTERWORKS COLLECTION Five Beautifully Restored Classic Films From Revolutionary Cuba Now finally available in North America are five masterworks from revolutionary Cuba. Beautifully restored with newly created English subtitles and directed by three legendary filmmakers, each film is a worthy addition to the canon of great world cinema. Taken together these titles reveal a unique perspective on their country-- one that Americans are unaccustomed to seeing. FIVE DVD BOX SET INCLUDES: THE TWELVE CHAIRS (LAS DOCE SILLAS) Directed by Thomás Gutiérrez Alea This classic comedy, based on an old Russian tale and also made into a film by Mel Brooks, is set in the aftermath of Cuba"s revolution, when property belonging to the rich is being nationalized. On her deathbed, a wealthy woman reveals to her son-in-law, Hippólito, that a fortune in jewels is hidden inside one of twelve identical chairs, taken by revolutionary authorities from her villa. Hippólito begins a comical hunt for the treasure, and he"s not alone! From the director of Death of a Bureaucrat and the Oscar nominated Strawberry & Chocolate. 90 minutes, b&w, 1962 THE ADVENTURES OF JUAN QUIN QUIN (LAS AVENTURAS DE JUAN QUIN QUIN) Directed by Julio García Espinosã In this wildly anarchic comedy, Juan Quin Quin survives on his wits in pre-revolutionary Cuba as an altar boy, a circus performer, a bull-fighter, a coffee planter -- the poor but shrewd farmer even plays the part of Christ with a travelling theatre company. As the Revolution begins, a comic series of injustices leads Juan to the Sierra to become a guerrilla leader -- albeit a bungling one. 102 Minutes, b&w,1967 CECILIA Directed by Humberto Solás Cuba, 1830. The son of a rich colonial family falls in love with a poor mulatto girl in this sweeping, elegant, controversial, and exquisitely transgressive adaptation of Cirilo Villaverde"s classic 19th-century abolitionist novel Cecilia Valdés. 127 minutes, color, 1981 {Official Selection -- Cannes Film Festival} {Best Film, Best Actress -- Panama Int"l Film Festival} AMADA Directed by Humberto Solás Havana, 1914. The turmoil of World War I engulfs a young middle-class housewife who falls in love with her cousin, an idealistic leftwing journalist. Will Amada leave her unfaithful husband and obsolete bourgeois values behind to follow her passion? 105 minutes, color, 1982 A SUCCESSFUL MAN (UN HOMBRE DE ÉXITO) Directed by Humberto Solás Chronicling 30 years of Cuban politics and history, this epic has been compared to Francis Ford Coppola"s The Godfather and the grand cinema of Luchino Visconti. Solás follows the lives of two brothers separated by ideology and ambition, while whisking us through three decades of glitter, corruption and the decline of the middle-class ending with the Cuban revolution. With its themes of corruption vs. innocence, power vs. morality, and idealism vs. opportunism, A SUCCESSFUL MAN offers a complex look at the roots of the Cuban revolution. 103 minutes, color, 1986 {Winner! Grand Prize -- Havana Film Festival}