The political drama Thirteen Days will play next week in Cuba and Russia, the two countries with whom America experienced a three-way standoff in the nuclear crisis the movie depicts.

Next Monday night's screening in Havana will include a discussion with executive producers Kevin Costner, Peter Almond and Beacon Pictures chairman Armyan Bernstein.

Organized by the Cuban film society, Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematograficos, the screening will certainly be attended by Cuban government officials who were involved in the Missile Crisis, known as the Crisis of October in Cuba, and Fidel Castro is rumoured to be considering paying a visit.

Moscow's audience will also include some of the key figures of the period: former US Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, Theodore Sorensen, the former special counsel to President Kennedy, and Anatoly Dobrynin, the former Soviet Ambassador to the United States.

The film has attracted worldwide political attention, claimed Gary Shapiro, Beacon Pictures' marketing head. In the first few days of the Bush administration, Dubya requested a screening of the film. "If the White House pays attention, then so does the rest of the world," says Shapiro.

Confirming that Castro personally requested the Cuba screening, Bernstein added: "We are proud to have made a film that has not only entertained audiences around the world but has also made people think and talk about the issues of power and leadership in the nuclear age."