Documentary backdrop image for Looking for El Santo (2023)

Documentary backdrop image for Looking for El Santo (2023)

202331 minPGdocumentary

Looking for El Santo

202331 minPGdocumentary

Filmed almost entirely on iPhones, a granddaughter and an archivist visit Havana to retrace the locations of the original El Santo films.

Genres

Director

Viviana García-Besné

Synopsis

Filmed almost entirely on iPhones, a granddaughter and an archivist visit Havana to retrace the locations of the original El Santo films.

People

Viviana García-Besnédirector

Viviana García-Besnéwriter

Synopsis

Viviana Garcia-Besné travels to Havana, Cuba, to visit the filming locations of the original El Santo movies. She is the granddaughter of producer Jorge Garcia-Besné and works with an archivist who restored the first two films. The trip, filmed mostly on iPhones to avoid government attention, reveals her family's history and the challenges faced by the local population under a strict embargo. The documentary runs for 31 minutes and was released in 2023.

Comments

What are people saying?

Play More Like This

Waiting for Fidel (2011)

Waiting for Fidel

A film crew from Canada waits in Cuba for an audience with Fidel Castro, hoping to document his views on U.S.-Cuba relations.

Waiting for Fidel

Background to Latin America (2022)

Background to Latin America

Over four and a half million people live in Mexico City, the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world.

Background to Latin America

Santiago: The Shrine of St. James (2024)

Santiago: The Shrine of St. James

Santiago, a major pilgrimage destination in Spain, holds historical and cultural significance as the final stop on the Camino de Santiago.

Santiago: The Shrine of St. James

Unearthing My Grandpa's Lost Adventure Film From 1973 (2026)

Unearthing My Grandpa's Lost Adventure Film From 1973

An Alaskan adventurer and his grandson explore the significance of memory and familial bonds while completing a 16mm film shot in 1973.

Unearthing My Grandpa's Lost Adventure Film From 1973

Finding Fidel - True Story Documentary Channel (2022)

Finding Fidel - True Story Documentary Channel

In 1958, war cameraman Erik Durschmied filmed the only known English-language interview with Fidel Castro, capturing the revolutionary leader's early vision before his rise to power.

Finding Fidel - True Story Documentary Channel

How I Interviewed Fidel Castro Before the Revolution (2026)

How I Interviewed Fidel Castro Before the Revolution

In 1958, war cameraman Erik Durschmied traveled to Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains to interview Fidel Castro just weeks before his revolution transformed the nation.

How I Interviewed Fidel Castro Before the Revolution

Ana and I | Family History Documentary | Full Movie (2024)

Ana and I | Family History Documentary | Full Movie

Primavera Ruiz explores her childhood and family history by traveling to Equatorial Guinea with her adoptive sisters, seeking understanding over four years.

Ana and I | Family History Documentary | Full Movie

Elvira (2021)

Elvira

Arellano, an undocumented mother from Mexico, advocates for her U.S.-born son’s rights amid protests and changing immigration laws in the United States.

The Forgotten Village (Docutainment, 1941) Burgess Meredith & John Steinbeck (2024)

The Forgotten Village (Docutainment, 1941) Burgess Meredith & John Steinbeck

Juan Diego's mother visits a wise woman in Santiago to learn the fate of her unborn child, seeking a prophecy through enchanted corn.

The Forgotten Village (Docutainment, 1941) Burgess Meredith & John Steinbeck

Love Art Revolution (2024)

Love Art Revolution

A Cuban American electrician from North Carolina reinvents himself as an outsider artist and returns to Havana to share his art and collaborate with local creators.

Love Art Revolution

Explore Looking for El Santo

Browse more like this

Unearthing My Grandpa's Lost Adventure Film From 1973 (2026)

Unearthing My Grandpa's Lost Adventure Film From 1973

An Alaskan adventurer and his grandson explore the significance of memory and familial bonds while completing a 16mm film shot in 1973.

Unearthing My Grandpa's Lost Adventure Film From 1973

No digital watch option in your country

How I Interviewed Fidel Castro Before the Revolution (2026)

How I Interviewed Fidel Castro Before the Revolution

In 1958, war cameraman Erik Durschmied traveled to Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains to interview Fidel Castro just weeks before his revolution transformed the nation.

How I Interviewed Fidel Castro Before the Revolution

No digital watch option in your country

Santoalla (2016)

Santoalla

2016•1h23m•★7.1TMDB

One Dutch man mysteriously disappears in the isolated village of Santoalla, leading to rising tensions between him, his partner, and local residents.

I Am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth (2005)

I Am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth

2005•1h31m•★7.3TMDB

A 1964 Cuban/Soviet film struggled to find an audience for decades before being rediscovered in the 1990s and redefined as a classic.

I Am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth

A Concrete Cinema (2017)

A Concrete Cinema

2017•1h17m•★10.0TMDB

A construction worker in Villa Elisa, Argentina, uses salvaged materials to build a cinema in response to the decline of local movie theaters.

A Concrete Cinema

Looking for Larisa (2012)

Looking for Larisa

2012•1h19m•★6.8TMDB

2,000 feet of Super 8 family footage from the 1970s leads filmmaker Andres Pardo and photographer David H. Pardo to investigate the life of a girl named Larisa.

Looking for Larisa

The Many Miracles of Household Saints (2024)

The Many Miracles of Household Saints

2024•58m•★8.5TMDB

Fifty-eight minutes of interviews and archival footage reveal the challenges and personal stories behind the making of the 1993 film "Household Saints."

The Many Miracles of Household Saints

Zombies in the Sugar Cane Field: The Documentary (2019)

Zombies in the Sugar Cane Field: The Documentary

2019•1h29m•★7.8TMDB

Three years before George A. Romero's classic, a horror film released in Tucumán faced censorship under Argentina's military dictatorship.

Zombies in the Sugar Cane Field: The Documentary

El Father Plays Himself (2020)

El Father Plays Himself

2020•1h45m•★7.0TMDB

A father and son return to the Amazon jungle to film a personal story, confronting addiction and emotional distance after years apart.

El Father Plays Himself

Bostofrio (2018)

Bostofrio

2018•1h9m•★5.3TMDB

In Portugal's Bostofrio, Miguel Gomes collects personal stories from residents, revealing how family histories shape community identity.

Santiago (2007)

Santiago

2007•1h20m•★7.5TMDB

In 1992, João Moreira Salles filmed his butler Santiago Badariotti Merlo, who worked for his family for 30 years, before revisiting the footage in 2005.

Habaneros (2017)

Habaneros

2017•2h20m•★8.0TMDB

Archival footage and interviews reveal Havana's history, covering key events from the abolition of slavery to Fidel Castro's revolution.

Browse more by Viviana García-Besné

View all films →

Perdida (2009)

Perdida

2009

Is this your film?

If you made this film or hold the rights to it, we'd like to talk. We can license it and pay you a share of what it earns.

License it with us →