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Diego Boneta Presented KILLING CASTRO at the 24th FICM

Alan Rodríguez

Killing Castro, directed by Eif Rivera, was presented at the 24th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) by its lead actor, Diego Boneta, and the festival’s president, Alejandro Ramírez.

Killing Castro, which Boneta also produced, reimagines Fidel Castro’s stay in Harlem in 1960 as a tense encounter between surveillance and solidarity. As conflicting forces draw closer, a young translator finds himself caught in an increasingly tight web of power and intimacy.

Killing Castro was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival. However, the actor placed great emphasis on the importance of having this premiere in Mexico and at FICM. 

Before the screening began, Boneta thanked the Michoacán audience for their warmth and expressed his gratitude for the welcome Alejandro Ramírez has extended to him throughout various editions of FICM: “Alejandro, thank you for always making me feel at home. After all these years, being able to call you a friend is what I appreciate most […]. I produced this film together with my sister, who is also here. Natalia, I couldn’t have done it without you,” he added.

The screening took place at the Mariano Matamoros Theater and was attended by Mexican directors Michele Franco and Manolo Caro, as well as actress Ofelia Medina, who Boneta thanked for the stories she shared with him before filming began.

Regarding the process that led Boneta to embody the character of Fidel Castro, the actor mentioned that he spent a year and a half preparing for this role, working on the character’s various accents and perfecting his delivery of the speeches.

“The most interesting thing—and what I truly experienced during this process—is that to understand a character, you don’t have to justify him. That was the lesson I had to learn here. Not to judge, not to justify, but simply to study and have the information,” he said.