South of the Border

This week, we bring you a special edition of the Listening Post. Richard Gizbert sits down with Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone to talk about his new film South of the Border and the surprising role that media, both Latin American and North American play in shaping and reflecting the narrative of South America’s political history.

We told you last year that we would get to Oliver Stone and discuss South of the Border once it was released – and we have kept our word. His newest film charts the Oscar winning director’s trip to Latin America where he meets and talks to seven of the region’s leaders.

Now, this may sounds like a political film but when you watch it you see that it is also very much about the media. We start our interview by talking about the film’s central character, Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, a man whose coverage and he gets plenty of it in the American media, is quite often biased and inaccurate.

But president Chavez is also fighting a battle with the media a little closer to home, against the privately owned Venezuelan media which is quite literally out to get him. And he is not alone, throughout the course of the movie and the interview it becomes apparent that there is a broader pattern emerging in the reporting of South America and its new leaders.

Mr. Stone gets incredible access to these leaders and taps into their thoughts on how and why they are covered the way that they are. It is an interesting piece of work this documentary, one that gives you a different slant on a very misreported and misrepresented part of the world. There was only so much we could talk about in the time we had with Oilver Stone, but it makes for interesting viewing. We hope you agree. 
 
And from the sublime to the ridiculous, we end our show this week with a satirical take on Latin American politics. Isla Presidencial is a cartoon web series that is put together by Caracas-based animators Juan Andres Ravell and Oswaldo Graziani.

The cartoon dreams up a politically twisted version of adventure series Lost and the story is of 12 Latin American leaders stranded on an island. Check out a clip from the first episode here. We are sure you will be clicking around for more. Watch it here.

This episode of The Listening Post can be seen from Friday, July 23, at the following times GMT: Friday: 1230; Saturday: 1030, 2230; Sunday: 1930; Tuesday: 0630; Wednesday: 0030, 1430; Thursday: 0530.