‘Modern Lovers,’ ‘Courage’ Headline Los Cabos Goes to Cannes Lineup
2019 will mark the fourth time that Mexico’s Los Cabos Intl. Film Festival Goes to Cannes. Six works in progress selected by the Mexican festival, aiming to represent the vast panorama of current Mexican production, will be pitched to potential partners, sales agents and festival programmers at a Cannes Film Market screening.
“Modern Lovers,” from established director Matias Meyer – Morelia best film winner for “Yo,” best short winner for “El Pasajero” and two time Mexico Academy Ariel Award nominee – is produced by the director’s own BHD films, and Woo Films, one of Latin America’s exciting young production houses.
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The film tracks seven storylines over 24 hours in Mexico City, each featuring a lonely and inhibited protagonist.
Rubén Rojo Aura’s “Courage, another title in the lineup,” is a story influenced heavily by his own family. In it, an elderly actress worries she may lose her job when threatened by the loss of sight. As things compound, her alcoholic son returns home with his own crisis. Aura’s mother and brother will play themselves in the film which is produced by Apapacho Films along with Marco Antonio Salgado’s Cinema 226 and Barcelona-based Mago Productions.
Produced by Ojo de Vaca and Imcine state film fund Foprocine, “Things We Shouldn’t Do” marks the debut directorial feature from cinematographer Bruno Santamaría Razo. The documentary chronicles the first village party, five months after a violent murder which took place in the very plaza where the townspeople are gathered. The blood stains can still be seen on the ground while adults make marry and children prepare a dance. Life goes on, despite terrible violence, in Mexico..
Another documentary, Mariana Flores’ “The Invisible Frontier” is an intimate look at the ongoing war between Mexican authorities and the country’s drug cartels by profiling, for the first time, the soldiers fighting on the front lines. The feature is produced by the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, the prestigious Mexican film school, Foprocine and Mandarina Cine.
In 2015 director Alejandro Guzmán Álvarez’s “Walking Distance” competed at the Mexican Academy Ariel Awards as best first feature. His follow-up , “Estanislao” sees Mateo returning home for the first time in 15 years for his mother’s funeral. While there, he must confront his alcoholic father and a mystical bird-shaped creature that torments him at night. The film is produced by Animal Tropical Cone and Lilith Films.
Andrés Clariond Rangel’s “Close Quarters” uses story to examine two traditionally masculine themes: Paternity and power, and their interpretations in a modern world while disrupting traditional Mexican “machismo” ideals.
Produced by Agencia Bengala, Cinematográfica CR and Jaquez Bros., the film’s narrative turns on Manuel and Lupe, a young couple trying to have a child. When Manuel learns that he is infertile, he becomes untethered. The two enlist Rubén, a new friend, as a donor, and in return offer to let him stay for a while at their home putting an almost critical strain on their relationship.
Los Cabos Goes to Cannes will take place on May 19 at Cannes’ Palais K screening room.
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