Set against one of the most volatile flashpoints of the Cold War, Killing Castro unfolds in 1960 New York, where a convergence of forces — including the CIA, FBI and the Mafia — begins to close in on Cuban leader Fidel Castro following his arrival at the United Nations. Featuring Al Pacino as a CIA operative orchestrating a covert plan to eliminate Castro, the film traces a city drawn into a tightening web of political tension and surveillance. When Castro (Diego Boneta) unexpectedly relocates to Harlem’s Hotel Theresa at the invitation of Malcolm X (Kendrick Sampson), the pressure electrifies the global stage. A young translator (Xolo Maridueña), finds himself caught between duty and proximity, his growing curiosity complicating the boundaries between surveillance and trust, while a hotel worker (KiKi Layne) becomes an unwilling participant in a widening political web. 

Blending political thriller with historical drama, Killing Castro stages a charged encounter between Black liberation politics and Cold War geopolitics. Through its interwoven perspectives — from agents of surveillance to those caught within its reach — the film reimagines a fleeting historical moment as a site where global tensions are negotiated through intimate encounters. Anchored by a powerhouse ensemble, including Nicole Beharie, Logan Marshall-Green and Alexander Ludwig, and propelled by mounting psychological and political stakes, this is a tense, character-driven portrait of a world in which the lines between allegiance, belief and coercion are constantly shifting.—Meiyi Liu