Oliver Stone is a pretty big name as far as filmmaking goes.  He’s done some really impressive titles over the years, and I won’t waste your time and mine rattling them off.  But even he had to be a little taken aback when he discovered who actually accepted his invitation to see the Venice Film Festival premiere of his movie South of the Border.

Hugo Chavez.

Love him or hate him or just plain think he’s a spittle-emitting lunatic dictator who’d probably be better served by just putting on his tinfoil hat and hiding out on some island in the back end of nowhere, the guy is a major name.  The current president of Venezuela managed to get out and see a movie in Venice, and that movie is Oliver Stone’s.

South of the Border, in case  you haven’t heard of it already, is a look at South America during Chavez’s term in office, and the changes that have taken place down there since the beginning of his time in.

No word yet on what Chavez thought of the film, but chances are he liked it–Chavez is already reportedly a Stone fan, and Stone certainly sounded enamored with Chavez when discussing him.