Director Oliver Stone is once again delving into the documentary format with a wide-ranging film on controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Stone is no stranger to this genre: in 2003 he helmed 2 HBO television specials, ‘Looking for Fidel’ and ‘Persona Non Grata,’ about Cuban President Fidel Castro and the Middle East crisis, respectively.
Stone’s Chavez documentary will likely be released in 2009. Stone has been quoted as saying he has “enough material for two documentaries.”
Of Chavez, the director says that the Venezuelan president has “an intoxicating energy” and believes that Chavez represents a sea change, and not just in Venezuela.
“The film is about the spirit of the changes in South America,” Stone told the Associated Press in an interview. “It’s to capture the spirit of this thing, which frankly is huge…There is something going on here, and it’s outside the IMF, it’s outside American control—that’s what interests me.”
Chavez has stirred controversy recently with his support of FARC, a Columbian revolutionary group accused of kidnapping and terrorism. Stone was reportedly involved in covering the rescuing of the kidnapped , but it remains to be seen how much, if any, of the incident will be included in the documentary.
Below is a brief interview Stone did with Venezuelan television, as well as a preview of a special report PBS' Frontline did on Chavez in November of 2008:
--Dustin S.
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