I did some quick searching around and found a place that had this DVD for sale (www.culturalianet.com), but I had never heard of the store. Does anyone know what countries this has been released in and any reputable place to order this from?

For those that don't know this was a documentary that Stone made in 2003 on his meeting with Castro. IMDB link.

dvdgo seems to have for 20 Euros or so and FNAC.es has it for about 16 euros. It seems that is a spanish release as these two retailers are from spain. I didn't search anywhere else, it might be available in brazil (due to Lula and Castro's relationship) maybe but do not quote me on that as I do not know.

edit: according to FNAC it does have English 5.1 audio as well as Spanish 5.1 and subtitles in English, spanish, and catalan for anyone who needs it.

Thanks Buddha... or rather, muchas gracias!

de nada. IF you end up getting this let me know how you like it 'cause I'm definately interested in getting it. I didn't know it existed besides a couple of news reports so thank you for bringing it up. Gracias.

Angel

I will definitely be ordering this. It is just not going to be for atleast a few more weeks. I have a bunch of things on order already and need to wait to order some more. I will definitely post here my thoughts on it as soon as I get it though.

Ok, so I haven't ordered this yet (too many other things!).

But! I was watching HBO yesterday and they showed a commercial for this. They will be airing it on April 14th! Can not wait.

fnordboy. I bought the one from Spain. I don't think is the same thing that HBO will be showing. I tell you this right now, it was worth all my money. Is about 99 minutes. looks excellent, doesn't seem to have any pal speed-up is both english and spanish, Fidel walks around with Oliver Stone and a translator, and it has subtitles as well, Spanish English and Catalan. which are all optional. For the bonus features it has deleted scenes and/or extended cuts of certain scenes. Is all based on 3 days of interviews between Stone and Castro. It is full screen and does have a certain opaque look that you see with digital video. its still has some very nice colors and the greens and blues are pretty sharp. The audio is 5.1 but is mainly in the two channels since is interviews. nice non the less. The bonus also include three interviews with a guy from the CIA, the Cuban cheif of their secret service and some other person I can't remember. If you or anyone else is interested I'll write a little review about it, and because of the subject i'll do a left,right and a apolitical view of it.

well I stand corrected and not, it is an oliver stone film with fidel but it is not comandante but a follow up
here is the hbo link:
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/loo.../synopsis.html

"...doesn't seem to have any pal speed-up..."

...ahh!... a pitch-corrected Euro DVD (...or an NTSC-encoded one - it happens e.g. the French DVD of Drole de Drame...)...

. . . . . .

Sometimes I don't think anyone ever really reads what I have to say:

"Looking for Fidel" and "Commandante" are being screened later this month at the Washington DC International Film Festival.

I was about to say that it might be an NTSC encoded one, because i figured its oliver stone, he's comming from the US and is probably his equipment but then I also noticed that most of the staff with him (if not all) were from Spain so maybe is their stuff or who knows. I could always be wrong and my player had a good night and didn't act up. ( I think I even saw Santiago Segura in the background when Fidel meets stone). I can't remember now if its region coded or not but I'll try tonight and let everyone know and how it looks on my region 1 player (if its 0).

edit: Also for those of you that can read spanish there is an article about Stone going to court to stop the distribution of the DVD because he didn't authorize the extras which he discarded in the editing process. I guess he didn't want them there. (they are pretty long, i would say close to an hour if not more). Here is the article (variety has one as well but you need to be subscribed)
http://www.rebelion.org/cultura/040120os.htm

Damn, I figured they had just changed the name of the doc. Well, I will definitely be ordering Comandante as soon as I have some free cash. Where did you order it from and how much was it?

I'm a bit confused by the posts.... so, there are two Oliver Stone documentaries on Castro. One is called Commandante and the other is Looking For Fidel. I found Commandante at dvd.go and fnac.es but where is the other one? Thanks!

Oh, and while I'm on the dvdgo.com site... is there anything else I can buy here to maximize my shipping? Anything this site has that is best bought from it as opposed to anywhere else? Thanks!

mensachicken, you are correct, there are two, one is Comandante and the other one is Looking for Fidel, HBO seems to be the producer of the second as per the article i posted earlier. It also stated that the producers of the first were not the sames as the second one. Since is an HBO film (production wise) I would espect it to be release by HBO later on if it is. I don't think it will be available in Spain anytime so (with the court battle and all). As for you other question, I really can't help you there.

Now I have a question. Anyone thinks that HBO would release the second part on DVD? how is HBO usually with stuff like this? Why is it only 50 minutes? Asking Fidel for his whole name would require at least that long from him.

I dont think the other one is on DVD yet. Atleast not that I can tell, maybe BuddhaWake can clarify it.

Okay, thanks for the feedback, guys. As far as I can tell, however, dvdgo charges 14 euros do deliver to Canada! (up to 4 dvds).

Since I'm new here, and to dvd in general, what should I do to find out what else I should order from this co? should I start a new thread or is there a way to find out from past threads that I might not realize?

mensachicken, i would definately check some of the other threats in this forum especially the "what have you gotten lately" and remember to go back a couple of pages to see what has been talked about recently. Otherwise start a new threat because if not it would be highjacking. I don't know what your interest are but always check for the user 'pro-bassonist' he always has some interesting stuff from europe and is extremely helpful in answering questions as well as others in this forum.

Sometimes I don't think anyone ever really reads what I have to say:

"Looking for Fidel" and "Commandante" are being screened later this month at the Washington DC International Film Festival.

~
Comandante

Oliver Stone
USA/Spain, 2003, 93 minutes, COLOR


Fidel Castro never believed in the theory of the lone gunman in the assassination of JFK, and remembers the Soviet Union as an “erratic” ally. He’s always liked Charlie Chaplin, and denies the existence of repression of any kind in his regime. This is an utterly fascinating documentary in which Oliver Stone spends 30 hours of quality time with the “maximum leader” who has ruled Cuba for 44 years and witnessed 10 U.S. administrations. Comandante is intellectually engaging, historically vital filmmaking.—Eddie Cockrell

Shown with Looking for Fidel



Looking for Fidel

Oliver Stone
USA, 2004, 54 minutes, COLOR


As a follow-up to Comandante, Oliver Stone returned in May 2003 to interview Castro again. Looking for Fidel includes conversations about Cuban politics, human rights, Castro’s succession, the state of his health, democracy, and Cuba’s future.—HBO

In English and Spanish with English subtitles
Shown with Comandante

This I don't know. I don't know how many of their America Undercover things they have put on DVD. I would think that since it is Oliver Stone that we will see it eventually, but I really couldnt say.

Other documentaries that they have done in the past under America Undercover have come out but I don't believe they were initially produced by HBO.

I figured just as you with Oliver Stone, but again it is Castro so you can never be sure.

What happened was, Oliver Stone shot 'Comandante', then Castro shot a bunch of dissidents, so a lot of protestors shot off angry letters to HBO, and HBO shot the project down by saying "You'll have to go shoot additional footage with him, explaining why he shot those people". This seemed to kill the project, because Stone was in pre-production for 'Alexander', but he was able to go back and shoot some more interview footage. This interview footage, along with a few small bits of 'Comandante', were put into 'Looking For Fidel', which seems to be all HBO is willing to release at this time.

If it was shot on video there won't be any PAL speedup.

...that is true ONLY if it was shot on PAL video... (if it was shot on NTSC video the matter is moot...)

. . . . . .