For three centuries, Isla de Pinos, Cuba’s “pine nut” or “treasure” island, was the domain of pirates, adventurers and buccaneers, and the inspiration for countless myths and legends. In his early years, the Cuban intellectual and liberationist José Marti lived in house arrest on the island.
Following independence in 1898, new pirates came ashore: American entrepreneurs arrived to colonize it for plantations. Still later, the Cuban government built a huge prison for exiles, criminals and political dissidents.
A rapid succession of scenes showing these events serves as an introduction to the Fidel Castro era, when the panoptic prison was dismantled and the island became a base for training young people to participate in Cuba’s revolution. This “youth island” is also the subject of Gómez’s documentaries On the Other Island and Una isla para Miguel.
Isla del tesoro was digitally restored by Vulnerable Media Lab as part of the Sara Gómez Project.
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