The final screening in the spring series of World Community films will be held May 19 at 7 p.m.
Oliver Stone's South of the Border can be seen in Komoux Hall at North Island College in Courtenay. Admission is by donation.
Winner of several Academy Awards, Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries in Latin America to explore the social and political movements behind the rise of the new leaders in the region. In casual conversations with seven presidents, Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region.
There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know about it. Stone's 80-minute feature documentary South Of the Border sets out to correct this deficit.
For more than three decades, Stone has challenged audiences to rethink historic events. Now the three-time Academy-Award winning director has set his sights on the continent of South America and the role the mass media has played in shaping U.S. perceptions and policy.
What starts as a road trip through a misunderstood region, becomes an in-depth look at the impact of American foreign policy and the real people and presidents behind the sensational headlines.
Through Stone’s up-close-and-personal interviews with seven of the region’s presidents, an alternate history of the South American continent begins to appear — a history of violence and conflict but also a story of powerful elected leaders struggling to help their countries emerge from under the domination of U.S. power.
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 presents the view from south of the border from a perspective North Americans rarely encounter.
“Leader after leader seemed to be saying the same thing," says Stone. "They wanted to control their own resources, strengthen regional ties, be treated as equals with the U.S., and become financially independent of the International Monetary Fund.
"Based on our experiences in Iraq, Americans must question the role of our media in demonizing foreign leaders as our enemies. It is going on right now with Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. Hopefully, in our film, you’ll get to hear a far different side of the 'official” story.'
This film is being screened as part of the Mayworks Festival of Art and Labour, which is sponsored by the Campbell River, Courtenay and District Labour Council.
— Mayworks Festival of Art and Labour