Movie mogul Steven Spielberg had an epic meeting with Cuban premier Fidel Castro during a four-day visit to the country. The Saving Private Ryan director spent eight hours in talks with the communist leader, during which they discussed the US trade embargo – which Spielberg had publicly criticised earlier in the week – cultural exchanges and the environment.
The film-maker commented that he didn't understand why the US trades with North Korea and China, both countries with which it had been in conflict with, but not Cuba. Spielberg was in town for the opening of his latest oeuvre Minority Report at Havana's Chaplin Theatre.
The director, who was greeted with rapturous applause upon arrival, told the waiting crowd that Cubans were "exploding with passion and talent and self-respect".
During his visit – officially sanctioned because of its cultural nature – he has met with young Cuban filmmakers and US diplomats and has made private visits to a synagogue and a Jewish cemetery. "I feel so much at home here. I hope to come back many times in the future," he says.
Steven was accompanied on the trip by his wife Kate Capshaw, his cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and television director Jake Paltrow, brother of actress Gwyneth.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
