Santiago Alvarez understood that every film functions as a form of intervention-political and aesthetic. With Accelerated Development, I chose to intervene on behalf of the films of Santiago Alvarez. What kind of films were they? They were political, often didactic. They could be playful or deadly serious. They were born of rage, bitter irony, and an almost limitless solidarity. They could be raucous or silent, brief or monumental, laconic or verbose. They were prone to tangents, but could be as eloquent as poetry. They never sought perfection. They were never made with posterity in mind. They were made for the here and the now. They showed the world to be forever changing, and changeable. They used every means at their disposal. Frequently, this meant they were made with next to nothing at all. "Give me two photos, music, and a moviola," he said, "and I'll give you a movie." And what a movie it would be. Accelerated Development is, in short, a gesture of admiration.-Travis Wilkerson