Pistelli highlights in his work the legacy of the Guerrilla of America.    Photo taken from Prensa Latina

Havana, June 14 (RHC)-- The documentary 'Che Guevara in the 21st Century', by Italian filmmaker Walter Uliano Pistelli will be premiered on Friday, June 16th at the Chaplin movie theater in Havana, on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the birth of the legendary Argentine-Cuban guerrilla fighter (June 14).

At a press conference at the Ministry of Culture headquarters, Pistelli explained that the work, filmed in Cuba since 2009, is divided into two parts: the first is entitled "Children of the Revolution" and the second "Being a Revolutionary".

He commented to the Cuban News Agency that the name of the audiovisual alludes to the journey through the human side, and also through the trajectory as a combatant of Commander Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and his comrades in struggle in Bolivia.

"For me, Che goes beyond the mythification that some people and the media have created around his figure, because I consider that the legacy he left us is more important," said Pistelli.

He pointed out that in the first issue of "Hijos de la Revolución" (Children of the Revolution), the descendants of the guerrilla fighters who accompanied Che on Bolivian soil are interviewed and tell how they lived the absence of their parents, and in most cases their death, from the bosom of their families.

Photo taken from ACN

In "Being a Revolutionary", the protagonists are Harry Villegas (1940-2019); Leonardo Tamayo; Ulises Estrada (1934-2014), guerrilla trainer, and Orlando Borrego, first vice-minister of Industries between 1961 and 1965, who died in 2021, who describe in a cinematographic way the details of the heroic deed in the South American country.

The documentary leaves a question at the end: What is to be a revolutionary in the 21st century, which constitutes a provocation towards the analysis of Guevarian thought today.

"That the documentary will be presented in Cuba 95 years after Che's birth represents a great honor, a dream and a commitment, because more than a decade ago this project was born and has become a reality," said Pistelli.

The filmmaker added that "it is a gift for all those who gave me their testimonies, although some are no longer physically present, because they opened their hearts to me, and the audiovisual is a way to repay the trust placed in me".

Che Guevara in the 21st century' has been presented in Bolivia and the United States. It will be part of the cycle of documentaries to be screened by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry in tribute to the Heroic Guerrilla.