Mi aporte

Mi aporte opens with what looks and feels like propaganda as an upbeat reporter interviews female factory workers—the shining examples in the dawning of a new, revolutionary Cuba. The Party has decreed that all women must get to work as part of the fight against imperialism.

This uncritical opening is just a ruse, however, because Mi aporte (“my contribution”) actually offers a nuanced picture of this policy’s effects. We see men complaining that their female co-workers can’t physically manage the work, and that their “paternalism” compels them to take it over from them. And women explain that they soon had to stop working when it became clear that the childcare promised by higher-ups would never materialize.

Made at the time as a topical discussion piece, the film now offers an intriguing portrait of a young revolution in progress. While Gómez and her co-creators, whose names appear in the egalitarian credits, clearly believe in the ideals of the revolution, they still dare to question aspects of its implementation. However, this didn’t please the film’s commissioner, the Federation of Cuban Women—the film ended up being censored.

Mi aporte was digitally restored by Vulnerable Media Lab as part of the Sara Gómez Project.