Estimulacion - Oliva 1968

Raul Oliva's poster for the 1967 Swedish movie Stimulantia uses religious iconography but the film itself is a montage of eight Swedish directors' work (including Ingmar Bergman) of questionable quality. The film confused the critics and hasn't made a mark on the historical cultural landscape. This poster is less phychedelic and more restrained than Oliva's typical output.

La Ciudad Marcada - Oliva 1966

This restrained design by Oliva for the 1962 Japanese movie Hiroshima Heartache (a film with many titles - the Spanish translation is Scarred City) is simple and neat showing the target closely aligned to the sun, a reference to the atomic bomb trained on the Japanese city. The difference between the Cuban designs of the mid and late 60s is huge - this poster is typical of the style, before the poster artists really let loose with flair and wild colours.

Accidente - Oliva 1969

Oliva's fantastic psychedelic design for the British film Accident puts the protagonist, played by Dirk Bogarde, at the centre of the poster. The film has a car crash as a key element of the plot but unlike the British poster this doesn't feature in the design. This may have been a time when the poster artist hadn't seen the film.

Like the best of Cuban art this poster borrows heavily from Western pop art and mimics the style of the San Francisco poster tradition. 

Bela - Oliva 1969

Another psychedelic design from Oliva that references the best of San Francisco's poster art, Bela is a now obscure 1966 Russian film set in the 19th century and featuring an army officer posted to the Caucasus who falls in love with a local prince. The poster's mysterious prince looks like a sinister magician while the dashing officer on horseback dominates the colourful design. As with the most famous Cuban poster designs the style is about as far as it is possible to get from socialist realism.

Samurai Asesino - Oliva 1968

Oliva, an artist who relished in copying the style of the psychedelic poster art of San Francisco, takes a more cartoonish approach to the design of this poster. The film, Samurai Assassin is a Japanese classic of clever plotting and swordplay and the subject matter appropriately features a time of revolutionary activity which saw the power of the Japanese classes diminished. The poster uses a very playful and childlike design aesthetic to illustrate the traditional samurai sword, in contrast to the dark subject matter of the film.

Sao Paulo Sociedad Anonima - Oliva 1968

One of my favourite Cuban posters, Sao Paulo is for a classic of the Brazilian new wave. The film depicts an anonimous and difficult city life in Sao Paulo and paints a grim picture of life there. Thanks to Oliva's superb graphics which imitate Roy Lichtenstein's cartoon style this ICAIC poster is garish and dramatic, and it probably had a hard time conveying the negativity of the film.

Here's the opening scene:

La Primera Carga al Machete - Oliva 1969

La Primera Carga al Machete (The First Charge of the Machete) is a Cuban documentary by Manuel Octavio Gómez that tells the story of the 1868 uprising against Spanish colonials. Although the message of the film is serious it uses cinematic experimentation and playful techniques to bring contemporary film making to the 19th century battle. It also uses wild hand held camera shots and an abstract style that can be hard work to watch.

Oliva's poster steals heavily from the San Francisco scene of the late 60s. Although American poster art was not officially available in Cuba the Cuban artists got hold of various publications that were passed round and appropriated. In this case Oliva's poster may have been a little bit too American in style as another version of this Cuban poster exists to promote the film in France. This is great though and its wild style really waves two fingers at the authorities.

El Muro - Oliva 1968

Oliva's poster El Muro (The Wall or Le Mur in French) for ICAIC uses a dramatic image to depict the existential struggle at the centre of the film of one of Jean Paul Satre's short stories. The film is lost in obscurity but the story concerns the firing squad wall as metaphor for mental barriers. My poster has cracked in the corner and is held together by tape from behind.

Lagrimas En El Lago - Oliva 1968

Lagrimas en el Lago (Tears in the Lake / Umi no koto) is a Japanese film about a young girl who's love life turns bad when her lover is drafted into the army and she is seduced by an older man. She eventually drowns herself in sorrow. This 1968 poster makes great use of only three colours and is typical of Raul Oliva's work during the late 60s for the ICAIC that references the San Fransisco style. The Japanese girl is set in a work that imitates the psychedelic art of the great Fillmore posters, which in turn were paying homage to art nouveau.