10 · 01 · 08

Ché, The Argentine – Part One, to open at 6th FICM

Translated by Caroline MacKinnon

[imagen]Steven Soderbergh’s film Ché, The Argentine, Part One is set to open at the sixth edition of the Morelia International Film Festival. The film’s director Steven Soderbergh and producer Laura Bickford will attend the opening event. Actors Benicio del Toro, who won the award for Best Actor at Cannes for his role in the film, and Julia Ormond will also be there.

The story begins in November of 1956 when Fidel Castro headed for Cuba with 80 rebels. One of them was Ernesto “Ché” Guevara, an Argentine doctor who shared a the same goal as Castro: to overthrow the corrupt dictator Fulgencio Batista. “Che” proved to be an essential combatant. He completely threw himself into the conflict, receiving the help of his comrades and the Cuban people. The film follows the rise of “Che” during the Cuban Revolution, from doctor to comandante, and his triumph as a revolutionary hero.

Steven Soderbergh, who won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival 26 years ago for his film Sex, Lies and Videotape, has directed as many independent and intimate projects as he has films that have been very successful with a wider audience, such as Erin Brockovich, the series of Ocean|-|s 11 films with George Clooney, and Traffic which won him an Oscar for Best Director in 2001.

[imagen]Benicio del Toro received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Traffic in 2001 and he was nominated again in 2004 for Best Supporting Actor in Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film “21 Grams.”

Julia Ormond has been in over 20 feature films, where she has worked with directors such as Peter Greenaway, Bille August, Nikita Mikhalkov, Edward Zwick, Sidney Pollack and David Fincher. She has also had a solid career as both a producer and stage actor.

Laura Bickford has produced more than a dozen films, including Traffic and Chicago 10.

The red carpet event and screening of the film will take place at the Teatro Morelos in the city of Morelia, Michoacán, on October 4, 2008 at 6:30.

Ché, The Argentine had a grand premiere at the 61^st Cannes International Film Festival, opens in Mexico on December 26, 2008, and will be distributed by Gussi Artecinema.