Maestra (2012)

Maestra is a wonderful film based on the 1961 Cuban Literacy campaign where thousands of young people left the comfort of their homes for the first time & answered the call to teach others in the countryside how to read & write. This film focuses on the stories of women who reflect on this time in their lives with great pride & joy.The film has wonderful footage from that time in history, the uniforms, the photos, the pencils & paper, maestras or brigadistas with their host family, the smiles. The interviews in the film are with many amazing women who went to the country side in their teen years & they tell wonderful stories of how their parents reacted when they wanted to take off on this adventure, about how it was to work in the fields during the day & teach at night, about the immense joy in teaching someone to read & write, the stories are heartwarming & often very funny!You will learn a lot about Cuban history in this film as well as learn about the U.S & C.I.A's failed invasion under the Kennedy administration "The Bay of Pigs"Last but not least the music in this film is amazing! All in all it is a very positive & educational piece of work that will inspire people to know that anything is possible with dedication & often the most fulfilling thing in life is sharing something of yourself with others & in turn learning from them as well. Go see it! Maestra!!!

Maestra is a touching, incisive and true-to-history account of the 1961 literacy campaign that occurred throughout Cuba and was responsible for bringing the literacy rate among the inhabitants of this island nation from about 70% to 96% in under one year, a feat led by intrepid young women that has not been replicated in any other country. Having been to Cuba three times as a leader of professional educators tours and having visited the Havana museum dedicated to the literacy campaign, I can vouch for the authenticity and generous spirit that permeates Catherine Murphy's Maestra. A must buy for teachers of education and history, and for that matter, for anyone interested in the role women have played in transforming our world.

This excellent documentary takes the very unexpected twist of looking at the Cuban literacy campaign from the perspective of the young girls and women who were sent into the countryside to teach reading and writing to complete strangers.In the very male-dominated society of the time it was a sort of "coming-out" for some and a liberation for others, and very much changed most of their lives forever.It's a fascinating story told by the protagonists themselves - some of the thousands who found themselves suddenly in charge of their own lives as well as the education of others some 3 to 4 times their age.A documentary that underlines an unrecognized (at least for me) side-effect of one of the most remarkable accomplishments of any society in history.

Maestra is a beautifully crafted, inspiring film about teen-aged Cuban girls and their life-changing experiences being involved in the 1961 literacy campaign that taught 700,000 Cubans to read and write. The girls who became teachers (maestras) gained confidence and went on to become successful in other pursuits later in their lives. The film includes rare archival footage of the campaign as well as commentary from the maestras fifty years later about the importance of this experience in their lives.At 33 minutes, it is the perfect length to allow for more discussion after the film. Appropriate for young people and adults. We are pleased to include this film in the 2013 World Community Film Festival in Canada. Maestra is inspiring, very well edited, and has a great musical score befitting a film about this historical Cuban project. Bravo!