Blame It on Fidel!

Set in 1970, BLAME IT ON FIDEL is a wry and engaging look at how personal the political becomes in the life of one nine-year-old girl. Fernando (Stefano Acorsi) and Marie (Julie Depardieu) are left-leaning and very comfortable middle-class, when a trip to Latin America convinces both to dedicate themselves full-time to the many causes they’ve only verbally supported, to the consternation of their daughter, Anna (Nina Kerval). Full of wonderful historical asides and period detail, BLAME IT ON FIDEL is about that moment when parents realize that their children are their own separate selves and the moment when children discover the same thing about their parents.

“Julie Gavras’s wonderful film, BLAME IT ON FIDEL, is a deeply political movie that sidesteps strident polemics by viewing the ideological conflicts within a French-Spanish family through the eyes of a smart, willful child.” (Stephen Holden, New York Times)

“A lively, perceptive and historically intriguing coming-of-age story.” (Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter)

“A wrenching, funny and wise little picture, with a diva-like junior star at its center.” (Andrew O’Hehir, salon.com)

“Wonderfully engaging.” (Lisa Nesselson, Variety)

“Julie Gavras, offspring of famed Greek-born filmmaker Constantin Costa-Gavras, makes an assured feature-directing debut with BLAME IT ON FIDEL.” (V.A. Mussetto, New York Post)

“Gavras's style is already as assured as her father's, and her ability to balance the audience's understanding of grown-up beliefs with that of a rapidly maturing girl is deft.” (Aaron Hillis, Village Voice)