Fidel Up Close

An Intimate Portrait of Fidel Castro

There is probably no other protagonist of the 20th century who has been as much talked about and as studied as Fidel Castro and FIDEL UP CLOSE is already being lauded as "the definitive documentary on Fidel Castro".

FIDEL UP CLOSE delves into the lesser known facets of Fidel Castro's personal and intimate life from the perspective of those closest to him, including his children, close family members, collaborators, delegates, employees and some detractors. 

FIDEL UP CLOSE spans Fidel's early years, when he started a movement that led to the popular insurgency which defeated Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista and features rare, never before publicly released footage, such as that of the yacht 'Granmma' in 1956, which Fidel used to sail from Mexico to Cuba alongside Che Guevara, his brother Raul and 80 dreamers, marking the start of the Cuban Revolution.

FIDEL UP CLOSE touches on historical facts of Fidel Castro's life over half a century of on-going debates, attacks, praise, and admiration for the man who shaped Cuba into a new type of country, providing a glimpse into who the man behind the uniform actually was, revealing the love his people and Cuban intellectuals and sports figures hold for him, among other lesser known facts of his personal life, as well as the possible motivations for his leadership - which carried the Cuban people to confront the 50 year political and economic Embargo with exemplary dignity - while at the same time transforming the small island nation into one of the world leaders in Education, Health, and Social equality, with a strong Internationalist stance that helped defeat Aparthaid in South Africa. 

Besides the titanic political figure, he was a man, a father, a brother and a son. This documentary attempts to be up there, close to a man whose name was Fidel.