Cinema Libre Studio has pulled off a coup and acquired North American rights to Oliver Stone’s documentary South Of The Border.

The film premiered at Venice last autumn and Cinema Libre plans to release in ten major cities starting in New York on June 25.

South Of The Border chronicles Stone’s journey to South America in winter 2009 and features intimate conversations with Latin American leaders like Venezuelan firebrand Hugo Chavez, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, and Raul Castro of Cuba.

“Not only is it a genuine honour to work with one of the greatest American directors but his insightful documentary shows how these leaders of Latin America are being intentionally villainised by the US mass media,” Cinema Libre founder Philippe Diaz said.

“In January 2009, I travelled to Venezuela to interview President Hugo Chavez and better understand his portrayal in the US media,” Stone said. “Once we began our journey, however, we found ourselves telling a larger and even more compelling story about the region, which we call South Of The Border.

“I look forward to partnering with Cinema Libre to bring this film to an American audience, and to the opportunity it affords us to launch a national conversation around the influence of American policy on our neighbours to the South.”

Fernando Sulichin, Rob Wilson and Jose Ibanez produced and historian and author Tariq Ali wrote the screenplay with Mark Weisbrot.