Primer Corte, Copia Final at Ventana Sur: Bold First Features, Titles from Camila José Donoso, Redrum and Daniel Vega (EXCLUSIVE)
Camila José Donoso’s “Antitropical,” William Reyes’ “Eva,” and Manuel Ponce de Leon’s “In All My Journeys I Am Returning” are potential highlights at this year’s Ventana Sur industry centrepiece, its Primer Corte, and Copia Final pix-in-post screenings.
Penned with “Chile, ’76” co-scribe Alejandra Moffat, the fourth film from José Donoso whose “Nona: If They Soak Me, I’ll Burn Them” saw limited theatrical release, “Antitropical” marks a step up in scale, says producer Roberto Doveris (“The Prince”).
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Marking history in the making, “Eva” is the first film financed by the Honduran Institute of Cinematography. Produced with a sense of solidarity between Colombia, whose Candelaria Films produced with Reyes own Opida label and Fosforito Films, the production was boarded as an an associate producer by Jayro Bustamante’s high-flying La Casa de Producción which trained the non-pro cast.
Luciana Piantanida’s “All the Strength,” Carlos Sánchez Giraldo’s No Journey Without Return” and “The Condor Daughter,” from Bolivia’s Alvaro Olmos Torrico – well known as an enterprising producer – are sophomore outings for their directors.
Otherwise, other titles in Primer Corte look like first features. That’s not to say Primer Corte and Copia Final titles are not made with ambition nor that their directors or producers lack a track record.
Set in early 19th century Colombia, freed from Spanish imperialist shackles, Manuel Ponce de León’s revisionist “In All My Journeys I Am Returning” co-stars “Holy Motors'” Denis Lavant, is shot with the sense of an antique patina, and attempts to reimagine emigration, in terms of its psychological disorientation.
Primer Corte work in progress “Vainilla” is set up at Stacy Perskie’s Redrum, a producer on “Narcos: Mexico” and Rodrigo Prieto’s “Pedro Paramo.”
“All the Strength” weighs in as a procedural before morphing into fantasy drama, from Argentina’s Pensar con las Manos and Peru’s Dupla Films and Maretazo Cine, headed by famed directors Daniel and Diego Vega (“October,” “My Lucky Day”).
Copia Final’s “The Reserve” swept Impulso Morelia. Rafaela Camelo, behind “The Nature of Invisible Things,” was selected by Variety as one of its 10 Brazilian Next Gen Talents to Track last year.
News of the Primer Corte/Copia Final lineup comes as Ventana Sur has announced a new prize, the Dale! Award, that consists of €10,000 ($10,700) for a Latin American work in progress made in co-production with Europe.
The cash prize is backed by the umbrella bodies of public-sector film agencies in Ibero-America (CAACI) and Europe (EFAD). Contenders for that plaudit feature take in top Bolivian filmmaker Martin Boulocq, San Sebastian New Directors winner Ulises Porra (“Carajita”) and Santiago Esteves, who won fans with his first feature “Rey’s Education.”
Details of Primer Corte, Copia Final and Dale! titles:
PRIMER CORTE
“Antitropical,” (Camila José Donoso, Chile)
“The Dominican Susy will help Deisi, a Colombian immigrant, to understand the logic of the Chilean sexual market. She’s just arrived and is trying to survive in the cold city that is collapsing due to migration and racism,” the synopsis begins. In “Antitropical,” José Donoso “continues to work with non-professional actors and tell stories based on real experiences of immigrant women in the context of the sex trade in Chile,” says producer Roberto Doveris at Niña Niño Films (“The Prince”).
“Girls Ground,” (“Tierras Niñas,” Zara Monardes, Chile)
Luz comes of age in Ventanas, a heavy industry coastal town. “‘Girls Ground’ delves into the metaphor of growing up in a place that poisons all living beings,” says producer Catalina Águila. Set up at Chile’s CDD educational facility, a burgeoning production hub behind “La Madre del Cordero” and “Sariri.”
“The Bovine With the Curved Horns,” (“El bovino de los cuernos curvos,” Omar E. Ospina, Colombia)
During a blackout, somebody patrols a village’s empty streets wearing a bull skull mask, as rumors grow of sightings of armed groups. From La Fortaleza, founded by Magdalena U students, the film mixes “Caribbean fantasy and oral tradition from the POV of children and victims of massacres at the riverside Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta.” Ospina’s first feature.
“In All My Journeys I Am Returning,” (“Todos mis viajes son viajes de regreso,” Manuel Ponce de León, Colombia, France, Sweden)
An ambitious reframing of emigration, set in a desolate post-Independence Colombia, after 1819, where Karl and Petronella, a Swedish couple, arrive in search of fortune. Lead produced by Colombia’s Los Niños Films, “a film about the human need to imagine, to be able to return to a life that was lost, one that is desired in the future, or one that may never exist,” says Ponce de León.
“No Journey Without Return,” (“No hay ida sin retorno,” Carlos Sánchez Giraldo, Peru)
“The story of a character, Amito, who, believing himself to be human, but, hearing the call of his dreams, returns to his origins to discover that he is not, remembering other lives that also belong to him,” says the synopsis. A fantasy drama from visual artist Sánchez Giraldo and Peru’s Rima, Rima.
“Vainilla,” (Mayra Hermosillo, Mexico)
Set in the late ‘80s, a family of seven women from different generations and ideologies battles to save the house they live in, seen from the POV of the youngest, Roberta, aged 8. The first feature of actor-turned-director Hermosillo.
COPIA FINAL
“All the Strength,” (“Todas las fuerzas,” Luciana Piantanida, Argentina/ Perú)
Marlene is a middle-aged migrant caregiver looking after an elderly women. Looking for a friend who has gone missing, she discovers a group of other women who, like her, have honed their gifts into supernatural powers. “A social-issue movie forefronting people often at the margins [of movies],” say its makers.
“The Condor Daughter,” (“La Hija Condor,” Alvaro Olmos Torrico, Bolivia, Perú, Uruguay)
Clara, a young Quechua midwife, flees to the city to become a singer. Her elderly mother, Ana, follows her to prevent the wrath of the gods. The latest from Bolivia’s Empatia Cinema, whose credits take in Tribeca title “The Visitor,” Sanfic winner “Los de abajo” and Andean queer drama “Diamond.” Here, Olmos Torrico not only produces but directs.
“The Devil Smokes (And Keeps the Heads of the Burnt Matches in the Same Box),” (Ernesto Martínez Bucio, Mexico)
A coming of age drama in which five siblings, abandoned by their parents, come under the sway of their schizophrenic grandmother, dissolving the barriers between the real and the imaginary as they try to stay together. The first feature from CCC and Elias Querejeta Zine Eskola alum Martínez Bucio.
“Eva,” (William Reyes, Honduras, Colombia)
Trans mother Eva clashes with her son – they both have strong characters – after the tragic death of his wife in childbirth. “What sets Eva apart is its honest portrayal of a trans protagonist navigating universal themes of love and responsibility, offering a fresh perspective on parenthood and reconciliation,” says Reyes.
“The Nature of Invisible Things,” (“A Natureza das Coisas Invisíveis,” aka, “Blood of My Blood,” Rafaela Camelo, Brazil, Chile)
Gloria, 10, vacations in hospital with her mother, a hard-working nurse, and bonds with Sofia, who is convinced her great-grandmother’s worsening health results from hospital admission. “While the film centers on the theme of death, a certain lightness of spirit is essential to exploring deeper emotional truths,” says Carmelo. Supported by Projeto Paradiso, a Cinemundi, Biarritz BAL-Lab and Cabíria winner.
“The Reserve,” (“La Reserva,” Pablo Pérez Lombardini, Mexico)
A big winner at October’s Impulso Morelia, in which a principled park ranger convinces her community to expel illegal loggers from their natural reserve, thus provoking a far greater threat. Shot with non-professional actors in Chiapas, “the film takes place in a context where a real battle for conservation is fought every day,” says co-producer Liliana Pardo.
DALE
“Criminal Body,” (“Cuerpo Criminal,” Martin Boulocq, Bolivia, Argentina, France, Germany)
Set on an American movie shoot in a sleepy Bolivian hamlet, the genre hybrid from unflagging Bolivian director Boulocq (“The Visitor”) follows the travails of two locals, one hired to play the monster. A critique of U.S. neo-colonialism which marks one of the biggest co-productions up for the Dale! Award, produced by Bolivia Cq Films, Argentina’s Maravillacine, France’s L’Œil Vif and Germany’s Weltfilm.
“In All My Journeys, I Am Returning”
A Primer Corte title.
“Olivia,” (Sofía Petersen, Argentina, U.K., Spain)
Shot in 16mm Ektachrome in Tierra del Fuego, a daughter-father relationship drama set at their mountain home below the slaughterhouse where he works. The first feature from Shaun Finneran and Petersen’s Argentina-based Animitas, best known for the silent short “Alone Sleeps the Water, Frozen She Awakes,” a fest favourite, and “Passing Place,” which won the Grand Jury Grand Prix at the 25FPS Festival 2021.
“Punku,” (J.D. Fernández Molero, Peru, Spain)
A boy mysteriously thought dead is found in the Amazon jungle by Matsigenka teen Meshia. As he slowly recovers, battling haunting nightmares, Meshia is invited by his family to stay in the city and follow her ambitious dreams. Produced and developed over a decade using slow process-based and community-engaged filmmaking, the director notes. The biggest project to date from Peru’s non-profit studio Tiempo Libre, behind “Videofilia,” a Rotterdam Tiger winner, supported by Tabakalera’s 2deo Audiovisual Lab for residencies in post-production.
“The Reborn,” (Santiago Esteves, Argentina, Chile, Spain)
Esteves broke out with his first feature, “Rey’s Education.” Here he returns to a relationship drama wrapped in a building thriller: Two brothers who hate each other are embroiled in faking people’s deaths and smuggling them abroad. One complex operation goes awry. “Through a violent and suffocating journey, they are finally reborn,” says Esteves. From Le Tiro (The Prince, The Other Son), El Otro Film and Zabriskie Films (“Upon Entry”).
“Under the Same Sun,” (“Bajo el Mismo Sol,” Ulises Porra, Dominican Republic, Spain)
The third feature from San Sebastian New Directors winner Porra (“Carajita), beginning in 1819, the historically resonant tale of three “highly contrasting characters,” says Porra – Lázaro, an entrepreneur, son of a rich trader; Mei, a young Chinese woman and expert in silk; and Baptiste, an Haitian army deserter – who battle to create a first silk factory in the Dominican Republic. But Lazaro’s insecurities and greed threaten the project.
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