Cuban Memories: Un dia con Fidel

Gianni Minà's journalistic preoccupation with the Cuban revolution and its Máximo Líder began with a 16-hour interview, conducted with Fidel Castro on 26.6.1987 that started at 2 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon and went on until 5 a.m. the next morning. Since then, Minà has released a series of documentaries on Cuba. The historical value of Minà's films can best be measured by the fact that Castro has only ever given three authorised interviews on camera - one conducted by Oliver Stone in 2002 for his film, COMANDANTE (shown in the Berlinale's Panorama section in 2003) and two by Gianni Minà. The filmmaker has now turned his material into two documentaries.
UN DIA CON FIDEL is based on the interview conducted in 1987. The conversation between Castro and Minà begins at the Cuban Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center (CIGB), where Castro philosophises about the 'new human being', and ends in Castro's private rooms, where, seated in a leather armchair replete with footstool, he discusses his literary predilections and his friendship with Gabriel García Márquez.
FIDEL CUENTA EL CHE describes the relationship between Castro and Che - an association that was close and yet fraught with tension. Castro met Che in Mexico during the preparations for the Cuban revolution. Che wanted to put his medical knowledge to good use by helping the revolutionaries. Remembering Che, Castro praises his courageous and decent nature. Both men dreamed of liberating all of Latin America. Towards the end of the film, Castro gives his analysis of how Che Guevara came to be caught and executed by Bolivian soldiers on 8.10.1967.