In 1961, Pedro Paulo, short-named Pepe, a 13-year-old Brazilian boy, full of admiration for the

Cuban revolution and a youthful wish for adventures, sneaks, in the spur of the moment, into a

Cuban plane at the Rio de Janeiro Airport, hides in the lavatory and �ies to Havana as a blind

passenger, not sure about what could happen to him when he arrives. To his surprise, Fidel

Castro promptly welcomes him during the Mother’s Day Speech. In Havana, he is personally

being taken care of by Fidel and Mrs. Celia Sanchez, an active ex-revolutionary and member of

the new Cuban Government, who invites him to live and study on the island.

For the next three years he lives in Cuba. He joins the "Sons of Fidel", orphans of dead

commanders of the Revolution, who live in a special school on a farm, provided by Fidel Castro.

Fidel begins to treat him as his “Brazilian son”. And soon he is being called “Che Pedrinho, the

Brazilian son of Fidel”.

A�er three years, Pepe, now 16, is studying to become a pilot. He goes back to Rio de Janeiro on

vacations, to see his parents. It is 1964, and 15 days a�er his arrival a military coup strikes in

Brazil. Pepe is forced to testify and is arrested for a couple of days as a communist. His father,

afraid of the consequences, burns all documents connected to Pepe’s Cuban trip. He cannot �y

back to Havana; and the Cuban government, for security reasons, denies his existence.

Pepe never had the courage to return to Cuba. He gets a regular job at the Central Bank of

Brazil. He marries, has kids and moves to the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. And because no one

really believes him, he also stops talking about his Cuban journey.

Now that he is retired the memories come back. And Pepe feels the urge to go back to his youth

and to remember what it has been like – that exhilarating feeling of life when you are young. So

he decides to go back, and to remember.

But what happens when you travel to the place where you spent your early teens, 50 years later?

A�er getting to know his actual life in Rio, we’ll �y together with Pepe back to Cuba, where he

intends to meet again his old friends, comrades and his adoptive father, Fidel Castro, and go

through his memories and stories.

While visiting places and reconstructing the personal story of Pepe, we will �nd out his motiva-

tions to make this trip now, and will participate in the experience of a man getting in touch with

his past. �e reality of Cuba serves as a background: the “overture” of the island a�er 50 years

of the Communist Revolution and what has remained of this unique experience in the history.

To illustrate these changes we will use interviews with the characters and combine stock images

from that time with new shootings. Music (Cuban and Brazilian) will help us tell the story as for

Pepe, they are very much related to his nostalgic memories. We aim to get close to the 13 year-

old Pepe, his dreams and experiences. He will be our conductor into this journey, looking

personally for his old brothers, seeing how they live now, and imagining how he, Pepe, would

live his life if he hadn’t le� Cuba 50 years ago. We’ll join Pepe in his mission to meet Fidel Castro,

to whom he wants to give a gi� from Brazil and talk about old times.

�e project has attached Leon Serment, a Mexican director that has made more than 40

documentaries for cinema and television and has gone to Cuba several times and Iana Paro, a

scriptwriter who lives partly in Brazil and partly in Cuba, where she teaches Scriptwriting at the

Cuban International Cinema School. �e shooting is planned to start in the middle of 2016.

Sons of Fidel is about the adopted child of Fidel Castro, Pepe. �rough his eyes we will see Cuba and the Leader that we barely know about. Cuba has always had this exoticism that enchants everyone. With the end of the embargo and the attention that the media worldwide gives the country at this moment, the documentary Sons of Fidel becomes a great opportunity to ful�ll the curiosity about how is life now and how it used to be on the island during the communist period through the eyes of a very particular person. �ese current changes sound like a perfect background to support the story of our hero, who lived in Cuba during the �rst years of the revolution, and will return to the island only now, 50 years a�er, in the exact moment when the country is opening.

It’s also very exciting to note that Pepe’s story touches the personal and emotional life of one of the most important personalities from the recent history, Fidel Castro, who shares with Che Guevara the status of the biggest revolutionaries of the century. And considering that 2017 celebrates the 50th anniversary of Che Guevara’s death, the documentary release will match a perfect window for reaching the audience in this same year. �is celebration also gives a chance to explore alternative exhibitions and transmedia content, such as short videos on the webpage and Cuban music concerts, just as examples.

Music will play a very important role in Sons of Fidel. Cuban salsa, bolero and Brazilian Bossa Nova from the sixties face-to-face with the new rappers and electronic beats will bring to the documentary a rhythm and atmosphere comparable to “Buena Vista Social Club”, “Searching for Sugarman” and

“Chef ”. Like in these movies, music will work like a voice-over, rendering Pepe’s feelings, memories and quests; it will help to take the audience into Pepe’s world.

Leon Serment, the Mexican director of Sons of Fidel- who has more than 40 documenta-ries in his portfolio and has been to Cuba several times- is already working side-by-side with Iana Paro- the scriptwriter who lives between Brazil and Cuba, where she teaches at the Cuban International Cinema School.

As Sons of Fidel is a character-driven documentary, it’s fair to consider that the

elements stated above will enforce its chance to conquer theatrical and TV audiences in Latin America and Europe. Especially when we ponder that the main target group are the so-called “Movie Selectives” (educated audiences_40+) and also the “Silver Audience”- a growing demographic in theatrical audience of 55+ who are interested in politics and have gone through the process of Cuba in parallel to their own lives. Besides the previously mentioned windows, VOD also represents a very strong opportu-nity for the commercial potential of Sons of Fidel since it targets directly the communi-ties and individuals who are interested in this particular subject.

Che Pedrinho’s story - that’s how Pedro Paulo was called by the Cuban press - gives us the opportunity to have a child’s perspective on one of the greatest 20th century’s myths and how this myth has changed over time. “�e Fidel’s Cuba”. From hope to disenchantment, back to a new neoliberal faith.�is documentary, which has an almost perfect dramatic structure, will show Pedro’s path through the island in search of his “father” and his “brothers”, while showing him on a personal discovery of what had remained and what has been transformed during the last 50 years.Four visual resources will be used to tell this story:A) Historical materials, footage and also photographs mostly in B&W, B) Shooting of his "brothers" and of Pedro Paulo’s new journey in the island, C) Current events materials, as facts references, D) Pedro’s and his friends’ personal �les.As visual narrative resource: the change from B&W to Color to establish time change. Photographic management of the B&W images based on Albert Korda’s style as reference using satin images and high contrasts. Actual hyper realistic images in 4K.From Cuban Son (traditional music) to Bossa Nova, Hip Hop, Reagatón and rappers. Brazilian and Cuban music have evolved in di�erent ways but their roots are the same. Both, Caribbean and Rio de Janeiro’s sounds are related to the beach and black culture. �ey sound like sugar cane and machete. Our documentary must sound the same.

Leon Serment in 30 years has directed, written and photographed more than 40 documentaries, including “Virgin of Guadalupe”, nominated for EMY Latino and the most watched documentary in Spanish language from Discovery Channel. He was part of the team of Clio´s “Mexico Siglo XX” coordinated by Enrique Krauze and Hank Heifetz.Started working on TV in 1981. Has Degree in Communication Sciences from the Universidad UAM X 1983 and has graduated Mexican Film School from CCC. 1989. Filmography:- EL EFECTO TEQUILA- 2010 - O�cial Selection in FIC Guadalajara 26, 34th Mostra de Sao Paulo, 32th International Film Festival in Havana and Cairo International Film Festival (2010). https://vimeo.com/72349322Password: tallerdeluz - KADA KIEN SU KARMA- 2008- distributed by Universal Pictures International.https://vimeo.com/110651501 Password: Efecto luna azul- VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE- 2002- Nominated for Latino EMY 2002.https://vimeo.com/124333882 - Password: VG/TLP- SONS OF THE ROAD- 2014- Documentary (in Post-Production)- Ibermedia 2013