Agustín Pardella, who rose to prominence with Society of the Snow and Adriana Paz, who played a major role in Academy award winning film Emilia Perez, have been signed to play the lead roles in a film based on the life of Hilda Gadea, the first wife of revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara.

While Pez is slated to play Hilda, Pardella will be seen playing Che Guevara. The film, based on Gadea’s memoirs ‘My Life With Him (Che)’ will be directed by Silvina Estevez, reported Variety. Meanwhile, production companies like Argentina-based Arboleda and Uruguay’s Salado are collaborating to produce the said screen adaptation, while also seeking international production partners to produce their film for a global audience, aiming for a wider release. Estevez is known for making documentaries like ‘Años cortos, dias eternos,’ ‘Me gusta cuando hablas’ and School-of-Life.

Set in the 1950s, the untitled project promises to portray the early years of romance between Hilda and Ernesto, and the impact of Hilda’s ideologies, who was a economist and activist herself, on Ernesto’s life before he decided to embark on a revolutionary journey. The film will also capture Hilda’s early years of motherhood, when she was compelled to make a choice between staying with her daughter and leaving with Che on his journey. 

Hilda Gadea married Guevara in Mexico in September 1955. In 1956, they had a daughter named Hilda Beatriz "Hildita" Guevara Gadea. A couple of years later, Gadea came to Cuba following the Cuban revolution, but after finding out about Guevara’s relationship with another woman, request a divorce. Their marriage ended in a divorce in May 1959.  However, Gadea remained committed to Guevara's political movement. She died in Havana in 1974.