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Return to Cuba: In the Footsteps of Walker Evans

color & b/w. 52 min. Ross McDermott, dist. by Grasshopper Film, www.grasshopperfilm.com. 2017. DVD $99.95; acad. libs. $375. Public performance. PHOTOG
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Walker Evans (1903–1975) was a photographer's photographer. Known for his simple and direct style, Evans worked as a street photographer and also became influential documenting social conditions and American life during the Great Depression. His 1941 book with James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which focuses on impoverished tenant farmers, is one of photography's key moments in the 20th century. A lesser-known project from Evans was his 1933 trip to Cuba and that is the subject of this short film. In 2014, a group of five photographers with varying styles journeyed to the island to traverse the same locations that Evans did seven decades earlier. What follows shines a light not only on Evans's life and work but also on Cuba and the new images from the contemporary group: Abelardo Morell, Sam Abell, Mark Klett, Cig Harvey, and Greg Gorman.
VERDICT Return to Cuba is the story of one of photography's great masters, a portrait of Cuba itself, and, ultimately, a celebration of the inspiration to create something new. Recommended for libraries with a strong interest in art and photography.
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