Venice Grand Jury Winner ‘New Order’ Acquired by Neon for North America
Neon has acquired North American rights to Michel Franco’s dystopian social thriller “New Order.” The movie was this year’s winner of the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Set in a near-future Mexico City while protests rage, “New Order” focuses on a high society family preparing for a wedding when a former employee seeking emergency medical funds intrudes on the festivities. But soon the party is unable to keep the reckoning at bay, followed by a swift disintegration of law and order defined first by class lines.
“New Order” is written, produced and directed by Franco, who conceived the project six years ago. The cast includes Naian González Norvind, Darío Yazbek Bernal, Lisa Owen, Fernando Cuautle and Mónica Del Carmen.
“In making ‘New Order,’ I had to think about movies in a whole new way,” Franco said. “It’s not only my largest scale film, but it’s the first time I have commented on Mexico and the social disparity in the world at large. It’s been a thrill to see people respond around the world with such passion. I can’t think of a better distributor than Neon to help bring this film into North America with their inventive and thoughtful strategies.”
Cristina Velasco and Eréndira Núñez Larios also produced with Teorema, in coproduction with Les Films d’Ici (France). Lorenzo Vigas, Diego Boneta, Cecilia Franco and Charles Barthe executive produced “New Order.”
Neon, best known for handling the North American release of Oscar best picture winner “Parasite,” will announce theatrical plans at a later date. The film will next play at BFI London Film Festival and Chicago International Film Festival.
Mason Speta negotiated the deal for Neon with ICM Partners on behalf of the filmmakers. The Match Factory is handling international sales.
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