New DVD Release - "South of the border" (documentary); with Tariq Ali, Raúl Castro and Hugo Chávez. Directed by Oliver Stone.
By Lita Robinson - November 16, 2010
Oliver Stone’s short film “South of the Border” documents the (in)famous director’s lovefest-of- a-tour across Leftist South America. His main focus is on Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela—or its dictator, depending on whom you ask. The thrust of this short, very one-sided film is simple: everything you think you know about Chavez and his comrades is wrong. Let Oliver show you the real story.
And show he does. Stone spends most of the film chatting with Chavez and constructing an elaborate explanation for how and why Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, Argentina and other countries have ended up getting such a bad rap in America. Stone argues that the U.S. has exerted a type of neo-colonialism on these countries, through...
By Lita Robinson - November 16, 2010
Oliver Stone’s short film “South of the Border” documents the (in)famous director’s lovefest-of- a-tour across Leftist South America. His main focus is on Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela—or its dictator, depending on whom you ask. The thrust of this short, very one-sided film is simple: everything you think you know about Chavez and his comrades is wrong. Let Oliver show you the real story.
And show he does. Stone spends most of the film chatting with Chavez and constructing an elaborate explanation for how and why Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, Argentina and other countries have ended up getting such a bad rap in America. Stone argues that the U.S. has exerted a type of neo-colonialism on these countries, through...
- 11/14/2010
- by Screen Comment
- Screen Comment
Director Oliver Stone and writer Tariq Ali talk about their new documentary, South of the Border, and tell us how they got involved with the project and the experience of getting it made. Plus, Stone talks about spending time with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and what taste he has in films.
There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon...
There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon...
- 7/27/2010
- by helen.cowley@lovefilm.com (Helen Cowley)
- LOVEFiLM
Director Oliver Stone and writer Tariq Ali talk about their new documentary, South of the Border, and tell us how they got involved with the project and the experience of getting it made. Plus, Stone talks about spending time with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and what taste he has in films.
There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon...
There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon...
- 7/27/2010
- by helen.cowley@lovefilm.com (Helen Cowley)
- LOVEFiLM
HollywoodNews.com: It’s the 3rd round of what could turn out to be a 12 round fight between filmmaker Oliver Stone, and Leopoldo Lopez, Venezuela’s most prominent opposition leader. He is the architect of a powerful new movement that promises to unite Venezuelans behind an alternative vision of democracy, free enterprise, and social change. The 38-year-old Harvard educated leader is the face of a new future for Venezuela: Democratic, inclusive, and solution-oriented.
The Associated Press calls Lopez “the man who is challenging President Hugo Chavez’s grip on power.” According to the “Washington Post,” he “represents a fresh generation” of Venezuelan leaders. “Caracas Chronicles” calls him “an early front-runner for the 2012 opposition Presidential nomination.”
Lopez was mayor of Chacao from 2000 to 2008. He won Transparency International’s Award for the most transparent municipality in Venezuela. In 2009 he founded Voluntad Popular, a social organization with the goal of promoting democracy and human rights.
The Associated Press calls Lopez “the man who is challenging President Hugo Chavez’s grip on power.” According to the “Washington Post,” he “represents a fresh generation” of Venezuelan leaders. “Caracas Chronicles” calls him “an early front-runner for the 2012 opposition Presidential nomination.”
Lopez was mayor of Chacao from 2000 to 2008. He won Transparency International’s Award for the most transparent municipality in Venezuela. In 2009 he founded Voluntad Popular, a social organization with the goal of promoting democracy and human rights.
- 7/23/2010
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
There's no let-up for Hollywod's most controversial director – the sequel to Wall Street, a documentary about Hugo Chávez and his most ambitious and personal project to date, the secret history of America
Oliver Stone is a man's man. Of this I have no doubt before meeting him. Not just because of his status as a sort of latter-day Ernest Hemingway, an action man with a reputation for women and drugs who won the Purple Heart for bravery in Vietnam, and then an Oscar for reproducing his experiences on celluloid. But because the most compelling sequences from his latest film, a documentary called South of the Border, show him hanging out with Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, chewing the cud about politics and war, talking very much mano a mano.
It's an impression that's reinforced moments before I meet him in his Los Angeles office when the photographer appears and shows me...
Oliver Stone is a man's man. Of this I have no doubt before meeting him. Not just because of his status as a sort of latter-day Ernest Hemingway, an action man with a reputation for women and drugs who won the Purple Heart for bravery in Vietnam, and then an Oscar for reproducing his experiences on celluloid. But because the most compelling sequences from his latest film, a documentary called South of the Border, show him hanging out with Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, chewing the cud about politics and war, talking very much mano a mano.
It's an impression that's reinforced moments before I meet him in his Los Angeles office when the photographer appears and shows me...
- 7/21/2010
- by Carole Cadwalladr
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – Oliver Stone, bless him, still has a fire in his belly to tackle controversial subjects and shine a light into the dark corners that the American media skitters away from on a daily basis. Part travelogue, part enlightenment and all Stone, “South of the Border is eye-opening documentary on the South American people revolution.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Focusing primarily on the vilified (in this country and elsewhere) Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, Stone digs into the American interests and involvement in the Chávez movement, where Venezuela’s rich oil fields are the goal, oil that capitalist interests can’t get their slick hands on due to the nationalization of the product by Chávez.
Going into the Chávez history, a history that includes the military, a media that was decidedly against his initial quest for power and a failed coup backed by the Bush administration, Stone shows the other side of how a...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Focusing primarily on the vilified (in this country and elsewhere) Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, Stone digs into the American interests and involvement in the Chávez movement, where Venezuela’s rich oil fields are the goal, oil that capitalist interests can’t get their slick hands on due to the nationalization of the product by Chávez.
Going into the Chávez history, a history that includes the military, a media that was decidedly against his initial quest for power and a failed coup backed by the Bush administration, Stone shows the other side of how a...
- 7/9/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Before American audiences can get their greedy eyes on Oliver Stone's long-anticipated sequel "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" this fall, the three-time Oscar winner will release an even more politically minded film, if you don't mind Hugo Chávez standing in for Shia Labeouf. As genial as it is revealing, "South of the Border" sees Stone on a road trip in the titular direction, conducting humanizing interviews with presidents who -- as is the refuting point of Stone's doc -- have been unfairly maligned by the American government and media.
Stone gets up close and personal with the aforementioned Venezuelan leader, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Brazil's Lula da Silva, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Argentina's Cristina Kirchner (and her husband, ex-President Nėstor Kirchner) and, most predictably from the director of "Comandante" and "Looking for Fidel," Cuban top dog Raúl Castro.
Stone mentioned to me that the film was partly shot...
Stone gets up close and personal with the aforementioned Venezuelan leader, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Brazil's Lula da Silva, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Argentina's Cristina Kirchner (and her husband, ex-President Nėstor Kirchner) and, most predictably from the director of "Comandante" and "Looking for Fidel," Cuban top dog Raúl Castro.
Stone mentioned to me that the film was partly shot...
- 6/23/2010
- by Aaron Hillis
- ifc.com
Oliver Stone has demonstrated his South American left-wing sympathies since his 3rd film, 1986’s Salvador – a drama about an American journalist (played by James Woods, who was also nominated for his performance by the Academy) in El Salvador covering the Salvadoran civil war.
So, him making a documentary titled South Of The Border, about South America’s political and social movements, shouldn’t be a surprise.
Shot across five countries, Stone’s reported intent with the film is to challenge North American mainstream media misperceptions of South America, via personal interviews with seven of its elected presidents, including Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba).
Stone gained “unprecedented access” to each president and region, in making the documentary, which is said to shed new light on the “exciting” transformations in South America.
Indie distribution company,...
So, him making a documentary titled South Of The Border, about South America’s political and social movements, shouldn’t be a surprise.
Shot across five countries, Stone’s reported intent with the film is to challenge North American mainstream media misperceptions of South America, via personal interviews with seven of its elected presidents, including Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba).
Stone gained “unprecedented access” to each president and region, in making the documentary, which is said to shed new light on the “exciting” transformations in South America.
Indie distribution company,...
- 6/8/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Cinema Libre Studio acquired the North American rights to South of the Border, the documentary from Oliver Stone, which chronicles his travels to South America in the winter of 2009, and his conversations along the way with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Néstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba). The film premiered at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, then screened at the New York Film Festival. Cinema Libre will premiere ...
- 3/29/2010
- by twhite
- International Documentary Association
Merciless dictator for some, political "Robin Hood" fighting against the power of the United States for others, the head of the Venezuelan government attended the world premiere of the movie about him by Oliver Stone. During press interviews after the screening of "South of the Border", the American director announced that what the world needs is tens of politicians like Hugo Chavez, people who keep their promises, citing the discipline and honesty of the Venezuelan leader. The maker of "Wall Street" snd "JFK" strongly criticized the American media, saying it goes out of its way to shed a negative light on the South American politician. In his film, Oliver Stone was able to interview other left wing Latin American heads of state, such as Argentina's Cristina Fernández, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Brazil's Lula, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Raúl Castro, brother of the seemingly immortal Fidel, while avoiding the...
- 9/8/2009
- by Constantin Xenakis (Cineman)
- Cineman.ch/en
Director Gus Van Sant was desperate to cast Sean Penn in Oscar-nominated film Milk - because the actor's controversial political stances made him ideal for the lead role.
Penn has famously supported controversial politicians including Cuban leader Raul Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Chavez even praised Penn for his criticism of the U.S. war in Iraq after the actor paid his first visit the country in 2007, as a freelance journalist.
The outspoken star's passion for politics convinced Van Sant he was a perfect fit to play assassinated homosexual official Harvey Milk in the.movie.
Van Sant says, "There were many political speeches that you could hear him give. (We) thought that he could do that part of the movie, the political speaking part. (It was) his politics, not necessarily the type of politics, but (the fact) that he was politically motivated and active, (that he) was out there expressing himself."...
Penn has famously supported controversial politicians including Cuban leader Raul Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Chavez even praised Penn for his criticism of the U.S. war in Iraq after the actor paid his first visit the country in 2007, as a freelance journalist.
The outspoken star's passion for politics convinced Van Sant he was a perfect fit to play assassinated homosexual official Harvey Milk in the.movie.
Van Sant says, "There were many political speeches that you could hear him give. (We) thought that he could do that part of the movie, the political speaking part. (It was) his politics, not necessarily the type of politics, but (the fact) that he was politically motivated and active, (that he) was out there expressing himself."...
- 2/11/2009
- WENN
Sean Penn is getting worried that his cozying up to Marxist dictators might cost him an Academy Award. We reported last month how Penn was smacked by the gay Advocate magazine over his visits to Fidel and Raul Castro, whose regime murdered and imprisoned gays. Last week, Penn called José Miguel Vivanco, head of Human Rights Watch's Latin America division, and asked for a meeting. Vivanco flew to San Francisco to dine with the star Thursday and brief him on the situation in Cuba and Venezuela. Vivanco was thrown out of...
- 1/18/2009
- NYPost.com
From psychic Paula Roberts, who's on Manhattan Neighborhood Net work TV, Time Warner channel 67, Wednesdays, 9:30 p.m.: Interna Tional: Bin Laden apprehended but, under mysterious circumstances, does not make it to trial . . . Fire destroys huge manufacturing complex near Shanghai . . . Raul Castro visits White House, opening way for Us trade . . . National: Obama in Week One authorizes Iraq withdrawal timeline . . . Hillary's first task is to broker India-Pakistan talks . . . Big Three automakers merge with foreign partner . . . Banks switch foreclosed homeowners into tenants . . . Major male rock star survives heart attack onstage . . . Postal Service postpones stamp increase until 2010 . . . Major Oscars...
- 12/30/2008
- by By CINDY ADAMS
- NYPost.com
Not all gays are gaga over Sean Penn's portrayal of homosexual martyr Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant's biopic "Milk."
In an Advocate.com article, writer James Kirchick slams Penn for his political leanings, arguing that any adulation he receives from the gay community should be tempered because of his affection for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez and Cuban strongman Raul Castro.
Chávez and Castro are guilty of flagrant human-rights abuses, Kirchick writes: "Gay rights are human rights, as Milk said, and Penn discredits both...
In an Advocate.com article, writer James Kirchick slams Penn for his political leanings, arguing that any adulation he receives from the gay community should be tempered because of his affection for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez and Cuban strongman Raul Castro.
Chávez and Castro are guilty of flagrant human-rights abuses, Kirchick writes: "Gay rights are human rights, as Milk said, and Penn discredits both...
- 12/17/2008
- NYPost.com
Sean Penn has defended his connection to South American leaders Hugo Chávez and Raul Castro - after a journalist accused him of discrediting his good work in the gay community by supporting the controversial politicians.
Penn has been praised by gay rights leaders for his portrayal of assassinated homosexual politician Harvey Milk, in new movie Milk.
But the star - a longtime supporter of Venezuelan President Chávez and Cuban leader Castro - was the centre of a scathing article in U.S. magazine The Advocate, in which a writer claimed Penn's political leanings counteract his good deeds - because the duo has been linked to alleged human rights violations.
But Penn's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, has hit out at the journalist who wrote the article, insisting James Kirchick's report is not accurate. She tells New York gossip column PageSix, "Kirchick's commentary about Sean Penn's cover story neglects to include that Penn in fact addressed the issue of oppression toward homosexuals in Cuba in his full essay which was printed on the Huffington Post (news website) on Dec. 1.
"(U.S. weekly magazine) The Nation printed an adapted excerpt only, but made it clear that the full article was on Huffington. James Kirchick didn't do his homework."...
Penn has been praised by gay rights leaders for his portrayal of assassinated homosexual politician Harvey Milk, in new movie Milk.
But the star - a longtime supporter of Venezuelan President Chávez and Cuban leader Castro - was the centre of a scathing article in U.S. magazine The Advocate, in which a writer claimed Penn's political leanings counteract his good deeds - because the duo has been linked to alleged human rights violations.
But Penn's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, has hit out at the journalist who wrote the article, insisting James Kirchick's report is not accurate. She tells New York gossip column PageSix, "Kirchick's commentary about Sean Penn's cover story neglects to include that Penn in fact addressed the issue of oppression toward homosexuals in Cuba in his full essay which was printed on the Huffington Post (news website) on Dec. 1.
"(U.S. weekly magazine) The Nation printed an adapted excerpt only, but made it clear that the full article was on Huffington. James Kirchick didn't do his homework."...
- 12/17/2008
- WENN
300 star Rodrigo Santoro will portray Cuban President Raul Castro in moviemaker Steven Soderbergh's Che Guevara biopic.
The 32-year-old Brazilian actor will star opposite Benicio Del Toro, who plays the legendary revolutionary in Che.
The much-anticipated movie is based on the diaries of the Argentine guerrilla Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.
Raul Castro replaced his brother Fidel as the leader of Cuba in February, and Santoro admits he knows his portrayal is "a delicate" one.
Santoro says, "As an actor, I have to try to incorporate the human being. I cannot do a political analysis about him."
But he's not surprised he won the supporting role in Che: "He (Castro) has slanted eyes. I think the producers saw that and thought, 'Look here, there's a great physical resemblance.'"
To prepare for the role, Santoro spent two months in Cuba last year, visiting places where the Castro brothers grew up, including the house where they were both born.
He says, "It was a very strong experience."...
The 32-year-old Brazilian actor will star opposite Benicio Del Toro, who plays the legendary revolutionary in Che.
The much-anticipated movie is based on the diaries of the Argentine guerrilla Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.
Raul Castro replaced his brother Fidel as the leader of Cuba in February, and Santoro admits he knows his portrayal is "a delicate" one.
Santoro says, "As an actor, I have to try to incorporate the human being. I cannot do a political analysis about him."
But he's not surprised he won the supporting role in Che: "He (Castro) has slanted eyes. I think the producers saw that and thought, 'Look here, there's a great physical resemblance.'"
To prepare for the role, Santoro spent two months in Cuba last year, visiting places where the Castro brothers grew up, including the house where they were both born.
He says, "It was a very strong experience."...
- 5/13/2008
- WENN
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