Mexico’s Cuevas de Altamira and Avanti Cinema and Argentina’s Gualicho Cine and Isla Bonita have joined forces to co-produce “Ángeles,” the latest feature from director-producer-writer Paula Markovitch, whose feature film debut, coming-of-age drama “The Prize,” won two Berlin Silver Bears in 2011.
Cuevas de Altamira is Markovitch’s label. A tough drama, its main characters are a poor kid who sells candies in the street and a fifty-something man sunk in despair, said the director.
First directing 1999’s “Perriférico,” a short starring Diego Luna, Markovitch has developed into an influential Latin American cineaste, co-wroting Fernando Eimbcke’s “Duck Season” which swept Guadalajara in 2004 snagging eight awards, and Lorenzo’s Vigas’ 2021 Venice hit, “The Box.”
“Ángeles” will be Markovitch’s fourth feature as director. It explores the unexpected and raw story of David and Ángeles. “One afternoon, David confesses to Ángeles that he’s going to jump off a building and kill himself. Ángeles doesn’t try to talk him out of it. Together, they steal the bottles of whisky that he needs to get the nerve to jump,” Markovitch explained to Variety.
She added: “After all it’s absurd to search for ‘a motivation’ to live. Maybe we don’t live because life is wonderful or dreadful, but because we were born. Because we come to this place: Life. A fascinating, terrifying, but above all unpredictable place.”
Ángeles Pradal will headline “Ángeles.” The young actress participated in Markovitch’s “Paintings in the Dark” in 2016.
Yossy Zagha at Avanti added: “We feel that the way it touches upon the subject of mental health makes it a very necessary film in these pandemic times.” The latest production from Mexican brothers Yossy and Jack Zagha, Fernanda Veladez’s feature debut “Identifying Features” has just swept nine prizes at the 63rd Mexicam Academy Ariel Awards on Sept. 25.
The producers are about to kick off pre-production. The film is scheduled to shoot from January 2022 in Córdoba, Argentina.
