'' South of the Border '' is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Oliver Stone . The documentary premiered at the 2009 Venice Film Festival . Writer for the project Tariq Ali calls the documentary " a political road movie " . Stone stated that he hopes the film will help people better understand a leader who is wrongly ridiculed " as a strongman , as a buffoon , as a clown . " The film has Stone and his crew travel from the Caribbean down the spine of the Andes in an attempt to explain the " phenomenon " of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez , and account for the continent 's " pink tide " leftward tilt . A key feature is also Venezuela 's recent Bolivarian revolution and Latin America 's political progress in the 21st century . In addition to Chávez , Stone sought to flesh out several other Latin American presidents whose policies and personalities generally get limited , or according to Stone , biased media attention in the United States and Europe , notably : Evo Morales of Bolivia ; Cristina Kirchner and former president Néstor Kirchner of Argentina ; Rafael Correa of Ecuador ; Raúl Castro of Cuba ; Fernando Lugo of Paraguay ; and Lula da Silva of Brazil
2009 Venice Film Festival
66th Venice International Film Festival
South of the Border (2009 film)