Manny Films Boards Chile-Argentina Cult Drama ‘Maybe It’s True What They Are Saying About Us” (EXCLUSIVE)
France’s Manny Films has boarded Chilean feature “Maybe It Is True What They Are Saying About Us,” and will co-produce alongside leading Chilean independent label Storyboard Media and Argentina’s Murillo Cine, whose credits include Cannes sidebar entries “The Snatch Thief” and “Land of Ashes.”
“We are thrilled that Manny Films is joining as a co-producer on this exciting film,” Storyboard’s Carlos Nuñez told Variety. “Their involvement will go a long way in our continued efforts to promote this project internationally. Our idea is now to film later this year.”
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Manny’s history of working with top Latin American talent is long and lauded. The company has co-produced award-winning fare such as Cannes players “Ardor” from Pablo Fendrik and “The Chosen Ones” from David Pablos, Venice competition player “Compañeros” from Alvaro Brechner and last year’s best film in a foreign language winner “Tragic Jungle” from Yulene Olaizola.
Camilo Becerra and Sofia Gomez share writing and directing duties on the project, which was originally set to shoot in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic put things on hold. “Maybe It’s True…” stars “A Fantastic Woman’s” Aline Kuppenheim, Alejandro Goic (Pablo Larrain’s “The Club,” Sebastián Silva’s “The Maid”), and young newcomer Camila Roschman.
Based on real events, “Maybe It’s True…” is the story of young mother Tamra, who returns to her own estranged mother begging for help after the sect which she fled two years before has sacrificed her newborn child. Her mother Ximena, quick to forgive and offer protection to her daughter, even goes so far as to hide her from the authorities, and embarks on a journey for the truth, but slowly uncovers the uncomfortable possibility that her own daughter might have been complicit in the crime.
Early in development, the film won support from both Chile’s Corfo Development Fund and Audiovisual Fomento Fund, which provided the kickstart needed to film a teaser, create a concept art dossier and production portfolio and finish the final draft of the screenplay, giving the producers a polished project to bring to the international marketplace and court potential partners.
“The partnership with Murillo allowed an organic and profitable collaboration in both artistic and economic terms, to optimally complete the film’s development and financing process. Thanks to that co-production, we won an award from the Chile-Argentina Bilateral Production Fund, and then recently got the INCAA’s interest for production,” explains the film’s promotional material.
“Now, with Manny Films as the third partner, our idea is to complete the financing stage and include some international talent and technicians as we want to start filming in the second half of this year,” the statement concludes.
Storyboard will also handle domestic distribution for the film in Chile, having done so for many of the country’s highest-profile indie plays in recent years including Sebastian Muñoz’s Venice Queer Lion winner “The Prince,” Jose Luis Torres Levia’s San Sebastian competition player “Death Will Come and Shall Have Your Eyes,” Juan Cáceres’ award-winning debut “Perro Bomba” and Dominga Sotomayor’s festival darling “Too Late to Die Young.”
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