Che to be shown at Cuba film fest Reuters
Posted online: Nov 21, 2008 at 1547 hrs

: Che, the film about Argentine Ernesto Che Guevara who fought alongside Fidel Castro in the Cuban revolution, will be shown next month in Cuba, the director of Havana’s New Latin American Film Festival said.
The film made by U.S. director Stephen Soderbergh, would be a special presentation and will not be eligible for any of festival awards.

Festival president Alfredo Guevara said in July that Che would not be shown if it included any “attacks” against Castro, the ailing 82-year-old who led Cuba for 49 years after taking power in the 1959 revolution. His brother Raul Castro replaced him as President in February last.
Puerto Rican-born actor Benicio Del Toro played the role of Che who was captured and executed October 9, 1967, while trying to lead a leftist insurgency in Bolivia.

Del Toro won the best-actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May last, where the film premiered.
The film was shot in Spain and Bolivia because, according to Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, the U.S. government, which has a 46-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, would not allow Soderbergh to make the movie on the Communist-led island.
Giroud said the film’s principals would have to get U.S. permission to attend the showing. He said the New Latin American Film Festival will show 114 films this year from countries throughout Latin America.