| Summary: | Cine documental y deporte femenino en la Revolución cubana: una comparación entre el Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano (1960-1990) y Campeonas (Oscar Valdés, 1988)This article analyses the representation of women's sports in the documentary productions of the Cuban Revolution through the perspective of gender studies. It establishes a comparison between the film newsreels produced weekly by the ICAIC (Cuban Institute of Cinema) over a period of thirty years (Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano, 1960-1990) and a short documentary film by director Oscar Valdés, Campeonas (1988), which portrays the Cuban national volleyball team. The Noticiero takes a very positive view of women's sports, both amateur and professional: it celebrates the triumph of Cuban athletes in international competitions, presents sport as part of a wider women's emancipation movement and as a way of spreading the values of the Revolution. In these editions, the film emphasizes the physical strength of these women and apart from two exceptions, does not sexualize them. Campeonas inherits this vision of women's sport but nuances it, addressing the issues of injury, motherhood and retirement for female athletes. It also gives more space for the players to express themselves, through interviews that are rare in the Noticiero, and features black women, but without addressing the issue of racism in sport. The end of the short film seems to suggest an adherence to Noticero’s representation of women's sport linked to the historical context: it is seen as a way of integrating women into the revolutionary process, since their emancipation is not conceivable outside of socialism.
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