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It is the classic convention of marital comedies that couples’ attempts to spice things up with extra partners invariably end up sending them back, chastened, to each other. That’s not exactly how things work out in “You, Me & Her,” which doesn’t wag a moralizing finger at its protagonists’ flirtation with throupledom. But this pleasing collaboration between director Dan Levy Dagerman and writer-star Selina Ringel — who are duly married — ultimately proves less about sexy polyamorous hijinks than negotiating the sometimes daunting difficulties of long-term wedded domesticity.

It’s a small, slyly humorous movie that nonetheless ends on a note of more dramatic substance than you’d expect. The feature (which has been playing festivals since 2023) opens in U.S. theaters on Valentine’s Day as the first to be released utilizing Attend, a new digital and marketing platform for self-distributing makers.

Though they appear to live a fairly...

Lucca’s World is a Netflix Mexico Original film based on the book “Los dos Hemisferios de Lucca” written by Barbara Anderson, a Mexican journalist. Her son, Lucas, was born with cerebral palsy; the movie, adapted from the book, chronicles her journey as a mother of a child that has a neurological illness and her quest for the treatment that would improve his condition. Barbara is surrounded by people who are willing to offer all sorts of help to raise Lucas as a normal kid. The list of characters mentioned below are in the film and they contribute heavily to make Barbara and Lucas’ lives easy.

Barbara

Barbara Mori is a popular Mexican actress who has acted in the Indian film Kites, starring Hrithik Roshan. Barbara is Barbara Anderson, a journalist who is constantly striving to find a treatment that would help her Lucas get slightly better. Lucas has cerebral palsy,...

Principal photography of Mexican writer-director Iria Gómez Concheiro’s dystopian thriller “Here be Dragons” is underway in Mexico, with Gómez Concheiro’s Ciudad Cinema producing alongside “La Jaula de Oro” producer Machete Prods., led by Edher Campos.

“When the project was broached to me last year by Iria and her producing partner Rodrigo Rios Legaspi, I was immediately drawn to it as I was keen to make a science fiction film, especially because it deals with themes that interest me, trouble me and that are very relevant today: the control over a society, the fragility of youth, its struggle in a failing system, global warming, the scarcity of resources and the power those resources hold within a government,” said Campos.

“And that control makes you believe you should be afraid. That indeed, here be dragons,” he added wryly.

Starring Chile’s Alfredo Castro (“El Conde”), Hernán Mendoza (“The Box”) and...

Production underway in Guadalajara.

Mira Sorvino and Joseph Sikora are attached to join Ruben Islas’ Atypical Pirate Movie, which is currently filming in Mexico and Grandave International has introduced to Cannes buyers.

The feature centres on a savant who gets caught up in the theft of a valuable thumb drive and is on the run from its owners in Guadalajara where he hooks up with the leader of a gang of thieves.

The cast includes previously announced Julio Macias, Danube Hermosillo, Emiliano Zurita, Herńan Mendoza, Gigi Guerrero, Casper Smart, and Mario Escalante.

Sorvino recently starred opposite Courteney Cox in Starz...

Exclusive: Eugenio Derbez and Ben Odell have set the comedy series Put@s Redes Sociales at Prime Video, starring Paulina Gaitán and Azul Guaita. Jorge Ulloa directs the series which explores human relationships in the era of likes.

Put@s Redes Sociales tells the story of Amanda (Gaitán), a decadent YouTuber of children’s content who has just turned 30, which makes her “over the hill” on the internet. She’s willing to do anything to stay relevant on social networks, from filtering her own nude photo to risking her life. She does all this to dethrone the number-one influencer of the moment: Vicky Moo (Guaita), who also happens to be her younger sister.

The cast also includes Hernán Mendoza, Jesús Zavala, Melissa Hallivis, Beng Zeng Wong, Hugo Catalán, Nataly Valencia, Bárbara Torres, Paola Fernández, and Jorge Enrique Abello.

“With this series, we confirm our commitment to new,...

Venezuelan filmmaker Lorenzo Vigas’ third feature The Box debuted in competition at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and has been selected as Venezuela’s entry for the 2023 Oscars. The film follows Hatzin, a young teenager who travels to collect his father’s remains from a communal grave in northern Mexico. But after a casual encounter with a man who resembles his late father, he is sucked into the underbelly of Mexico’s manufacturing industry.

During Deadline’s Contenders Film: International panel, director Vigas said the film’s narrative inspiration came from a TV news report of a real-life family who traveled across Mexico to retrieve their dead relative.

Related: The Contenders International – Deadline’s Full Coverage

“I had this idea of what if this boy goes to this town and suddenly sees a man that is exactly like his father. That was the starting point for the film,” he said.

The Box...

The first calendar year to see the physical return of almost every major film festival since the pandemic, 2022 has been a huge morale booster for filmmakers from all around the globe. And now, with the third edition of Deadline’s Contenders Film: International kicking off Saturday at 8 a.m. Pt, that outreach expands even further: leaving a carbon-free footprint, our online event will showcase the myriad films that soared at Sundance, beguiled Berlin, captivated Cannes, thrilled Telluride, vitalized Venice and touched Toronto, all the while shining a spotlight on the must-see movies that might have flown under your radar.

Click her to register for and watch today’s Contenders livestream.

Since submissions accepted for the Best International Feature Film Oscar category continue to grow — up by something like 30 from just 10 years ago, buoyed no doubt by the boundary-breaking success of 2019’s Parasite — it is harder than ever before to see...

When people think of the term “Oscar-bait,” there are many adjectives that come to their mind: formulaic, stale, cookie-cutter, generic, by-the-numbers.

“Oscar-bait” has a negative connotation to it because it describes a movie that is specifically made to please a certain demographic (in this case Oscar voters), leading to a movie that is both emotionally manipulative and has very little to say about anything beyond surface-level observations.

That’s why it is so ironic that this film is titled The Box because it felt exactly like an Oscar-bait film – it is, indeed, Venezuela’s 2023 Best Foreign Picture Academy Award submission – that fits very neatly in a safe, cookie-cutter box, resulting in a story that is both emotionally manipulative and has nothing deep to say about its subject matter.

The Box, a film directed by Lorenzo Vigas, stars Hernán Mendoza and Hatzín Oscar Navarrete. The film tells the story of a...

Hatzín Navarrete makes an impressive debut as a boy searching for the truth about his parent in a hostile world

Hatzín is an adolescent kid from Mexico City, first met arriving in northern Mexico near the US border. Played by Hatzín Navarrete – at the time of casting a non-professional actor – he’s there to collect the remains of his father, a man he barely knew, who was seemingly killed in an industrial accident. Offered a box and an identification card with a barely discernible photo of the dead man, Hatzín sets off on the long journey back, but changes his mind and jumps off the bus when he sees a man who looks like the picture on the ID card. Hatzín is convinced with possibly irrational fervour – the film never makes it quite clear if he’s deluded or not – that this is actually his father, who is now only...

You sometimes have to ask yourself why certain films are worthy of a competition slot at a major festival. If a certain set of themes and aesthetics are required for serious consideration by the powers that be, it’s hard not to see a number of art films as part of an infrastructure not so dissimilar to the comic book movie industry. And not to sound like a befuddled middlebrow American trade critic encountering Taiwanese New Wave for the first time at a mid-90s edition of Cannes when I ask: is there simply no consideration for either entertaining audiences or even challenging the so-called more sophisticated ticket-buyers’ pre-conceived notions about art cinema?

Sadly, the kind of film that makes one think such things is The Box, Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas’ follow-up to his Golden Lion-winning From Afar (thus asserting more festival berths for years to come). Certainly touching on...

The theme of fathers and sons runs through the films of Venezuela-born writer-director Lorenzo Vigas, whose 2015 debut drama “From Afar,” which focuses on a troubled middle-aged man and young hustler in Caracas, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. In Vigas’ latest film “El Caja” (“The Box”), which screened Thursday at the 39th annual Miami Film Festival, this motif continues to resonate — and on a global scale.

“El Caja,” which revolves around a young boy in Mexico City longing for a father figure — a desperate search with deadly consequences — could be the prototype of how a dictator such as Vladimir Putin rises to power, Vigas pointed out.

“We are always trapped in our obsessions,” Vigas told fest attendees during a Q&a that followed the screening. “I had a very good relationship with my father, a very close and warm and good relationship. But I connected with that...

Another World (Venice)

Cannes best actor laureate Vincent Lindon reteams with The Measure of a Man director Stéphane Brizé for another exploration of the demise of France’s working class. In this nerve-racking look at a factory boss obliged to make layoffs, Lindon channels the tremendous strain faced by a solicitous man who’s been backed into a corner beneath the crushing weight of global capitalism. — Jordan Mintzer

The Box (Venice, Toronto)

This quietly devastating drama from Lorenzo Vigas (From Afar) recounts the reckoning of an orphaned teenager (Hatzín Navarrete) with a man he’s convinced is his father (Hernán Mendoza). Set against the badlands ...

Comfortable in his newly found friendship, Hatzín (Hatzín Navarrete), a teenager from Mexico City who traveled to Chihuahua’s northern state to reclaim his father’s remains, pretends to be upset and explains he’s decided to return home. He laughs several seconds later, tricking Mario (Hernán Mendoza), his boss and impromptu life mentor.

Read More: Toronto Film Fest 2021 Preview: 16 Must-See Movies To Watch

Proving he can convincingly lie on command is the first indication of the lengths to which the boy will go to protect this bond he holds so precious.

Continue reading ‘The Box’: Golden Lion Winner Lorenzo Vigas Crafts A Tense, Slow-Burn Coming-Of-Age Drama [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.

Back in 2015, in what already feels like a slightly different era of the Venice Film Festival — currently on a roll of crowning big-name Oscar players — Venezuelan filmmaker Lorenzo Vigas won the Golden Lion for his debut feature “From Afar.” A small, subtle queer relationship study, riddled with ambiguity, it never made quite the impression it deserved to on the post-festival art-house circuit. (Its total U.S. box office was in the low five figures.) That was our loss more than his, and for his superb second narrative feature, Vigas shows no inclination to compromise: “The Box” may see him relocating to Mexico, but it’s otherwise wholly of a piece with his debut in its terse, cut-to-the-quick refinement, its loaded, exquisitely composed images, and its fixation on shifting, complex man-versus-boy dynamics.

Though it’s ultimately no easier a sell than “From Afar,” there’s more of a heated genre thrust...

Former Golden Lion winner Lorenzo Vigas (From Afar) returns to the Venice Film Festival with his second feature, La Caja, aka The Box. Set in northern Mexico, it’s a grueling insight into the plight of casual workers as well as a mystery about a son and his possible father.

Teenager Hatzín (Hatzín Navarrete) arrives in an industrial town to collect the remains of his estranged father, whom he’s told has died in a mining accident. But when he sees a man in the street who resembles his father, he’s convinced there’s been a mistake.

Pursuing Mario (Hernán Mendoza) relentlessly, he refuses to believe that he’s not his father. Eventually, Mario allows Hatzín to run errands for him, and gives him shelter. But Mario’s line of work is not for the faint hearted: he hires laborers for factories, where the conditions are harsh. Innocent Hatzín...

The first trailer for Venice competition title “La Caja” (The Box) has landed. The film is by Lorenzo Vigas, who won the Venice Golden Lion in 2015 for “Desde allá” (From Afar).

The film follows Hatzin, a young teenager from Mexico City who travels to collect the remains of his father, which have been found in a communal grave amid the huge skies and empty landscape of Northern Mexico. But a casual encounter with a man who shares a physical resemblance with his father fills him with doubts and hope about his parent’s true whereabouts.

Vigas’ 2004 short film “Los elefantes nunca olvidan” (Elephants Never Forget), which premiered at the Cannes Critics’ Week, was the first part of of a fiction trilogy that builds on the theme of the father figure. The second part was “Desde allá.” “La Caja” completes the trilogy.

In 2016, at the Venice Film Festival, Vigas presented a feature documentary about his father,...

Leading arthouse sales agency The Match Factory has acquired “The Box” (La Caja), the second feature of Mexican filmmaker Lorenzo Vigas, winner of Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion with “From Afar.” “The Box” is likely to find a berth at Cannes or Venice.

The film follows Hatzin, a teenager from Mexico City, who travels to collect the remains of his father, which have been found in a communal grave in the northern part of Mexico. But a casual encounter with a man who shares a physical resemblance with his father fills Hatzin with both doubts and hope about his parent’s true whereabouts.

Vigas says that in the film he reflects on “the theme of identity from various points of view.” He adds: “Latin American history is very young. Until a relatively short time ago, we were still European colonies; as a continent, we are trying to understand who...

In today’s film news roundup, California legislators have started working on an extension of the production tax credit, Golden Lion winner Lorenzo Vigas is working on his next film and Tribeca zombie thriller “The Night Eats the World” gets sold.

Tax Credits

California legislators have begun the process of extending the California Film and Television production tax credit for five years beyond its 2020 expiration with bills introduced in the State Senate and Assembly.

The Senate Governance and Finance Committee approved Senate Bill 832 this week. The bill would maintain the annual allocation of credits at its current level of $330 million. The program, which allocates as much as 25% of the budget to credits, was expanded in 2015 to compete effectively with incentives in New York and Georgia.

The program is overseen by the California Film Commission, which selects the TV and movie projects to qualify partly based on the number of jobs created.

Stranger Things and Mr. Mercedes actor Peyton Wich has been cast in Sony’s Goosebumps 2, joining Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ken Jeong, Chris Parnell, Madison Iseman, Ben O’Brien, Caleel Harris, and Jeremy Ray Taylor. Ari Sandel is developing this latest version based on the popular book series by R.L. Stine. Rob Lieber penned the screenplay for the sequel, which will open in theaters October 12. Neal H. Moritz is producing the pic under his Original Film shingle, along with Silvertongue Films, and Deborah Forte, who was previously with books’ publisher Scholastic Entertainment. Wich is repped by People Store, Abrams Artist Agency, and La Management.

Wme has signed filmmaker Gregory Caruso, who directed and co-wrote Flock of Four, which premiered at the Austin Film Festival. Set in 1959, the pic centers around four high-school friends who venture to South Central, Los Angeles in search of a famous jazz musician (played by the late Reg E. Cathey...

Mexico shoot underway on From Afar director’s second feature.

Los Angeles-based Ivanhoe Pictures has partnered with Mexico City-based Lucia Films to finance and produce drama The Box (La Caja), the second film from Venice Golden Lion winner Lorenzo Vigas.

The Box marks Vigas’ follow-up to Venice 2015 winner From Afar and is based on a screenplay by Vigas and Argentinian filmmaker Paula Markovitch (El Premio).

The Spanish-language project is currently shooting in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 35 mm in association with film services group Labodigital and the support of Panavision Mexico.

Mexico’s Hernán Mendoza (After Lucia) stars alongside newcomer Hatzín Oscar...

A trip of a lifetime for friends of more than 30 years ended in tragedy on Tuesday.

A group of former school mates from Argentina were celebrating the 30th anniversary of their graduation in New York City when they were struck by a truck as they enjoyed a group bike ride.

Five of the men were killed in the terrorist attack that left eight dead and 11 others injured on Halloween after a truck rammed into people on a bike path before slamming into a school bus several blocks from the World Trade Center memorial, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship...

Tim Roth among executive producers on Un Certain Regard entry.

Protagonist Pictures and mk2 films will jointly handle worldwide sales on Michel Franco’s Spanish-language drama April’s Daughter (Las Hijas de Abril).

The Un Certain Regard selection marks Mexican auteur Franco’s fourth film in Cannes and centres on 17-year-old Valeria, who learns she is pregnant by her teenage boyfriend but has not informed her absent mother April.

When her sister Clara goes behind her back and calls their mother, she arrives full of concern, support and tenderness. But once the baby is born, it soon becomes clear why Valeria wanted to keep April as far away as possible.

The film stars Emma Suarez, Ana Valeria Becerril, Joanna Larequi, Enrique Arrizon, and Hernán Mendoza.

Protagonist Pictures and mk2 films will launch sales in Cannes and first partnered in Berlin on Cold War from director Pawel Pawlikowski.

“We think Michel’s new film is his best yet...

An official trailer has arrived for a film that was just announced this week to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month. April's Daughter is the latest film from Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco, of the critically acclaimed films Chronic and After Lucia previously. It tells the story of a 17-year-old woman who ends up pregnant, and decides to call her mom despite not being in contact with her much. Her mom shows up to help care for her and her sister (who also has a baby), but we soon learn why Valeria had wanted her to stay away. It's a story about the complex relationship between parents and their children. Starring Valeria Becerril, Emma Suárez, Hernán Mendoza, Iván Cortés, Joanna Larequi, and Enrique Arrizon. This trailer does have English subtitles, so it's worth a watch. It looks quite good, very moody and somber. Here's the first official trailer for Michel Franco's April's Daughter,...

Worthy winner of the coveted Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at the Chicago International Film Festival that same year, the critically acclaimed After Lucia (2012) is the latest feature from Mexican director Michel Franco (Daniel & Ana). To celebrate the long-awaited DVD release of After Lucia this coming Monday (16 September), we have Three DVD copies of this harrowing, award-winning film to offer out to our loyal readership, courtesy of the hardworking team at StudioCanal. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.

After Lucia follows the relationship between Roberto (Hernán Mendoza) and his 17-year-old daughter, Alejandra (Tessa Ia). Roberto is very depressed after his wife Lucia dies in a car accident and decides to move away with his daughter to a new city.

★★★★☆ Unfathomably overlooked for UK theatrical exhibition, Mexican director Michel Franco's Cannes 2012 hit After Lucia (Después de Lucía) finally makes its way onto DVD this week through StudioCanal. Undeniably tough, yet one of the finest films made on the subject of teenage bullying seen in recent years, Franco's harrowing second feature is a sobering study on coercion and 'group-think', as a young girl's newly-acquired friendship group savagely turn on her following a drunken fumble with a handsome classmate. Featuring a standout turn from Tessa Ia, there's now no excuse for missing this brilliant drama.

Following the tragic death of his wife Lucia in a car accident, barrel-chested professional chef Roberto (Hernán Mendoza) and his 17-year-old daughter, Alejandra (the outstanding Ia), pack their things and move away for a fresh start in an unfamiliar city. Whilst her father slumps in and out of depression, Alejandra quickly makes friends at her new school,...

After Lucia

Written and directed by Michel Franco

Mexico/France, 2012

Following the death of his wife, Roberto (Hernán Mendoza) moves to Mexico City for a new beginning with his daughter Alejandra (Tessa Ia). Both struggle with the loss of Lucia in different ways, though both privately. A chef, Roberto occupies most of his time with the imminent launch of a new restaurant, drastically reducing possible time spent with his teenage daughter, widening the gap between them following a tragedy that, by all accounts suggested by the film, is still extremely recent.

Though they keep their suffering silent from each other, both Alejandra and her father are prone to lying in order to conceal their pain. One such example is how Roberto fails to tell his daughter about the abandoning of her mother’s car, in a long single take that opens the film, instead suggesting he has sold the vehicle...

Title: After Lucia Director: Michel Franco Starring: Tessa Ia, Hernán Mendoza, Gonzalo Vega Jr. Bullying is becoming something of a trending topic within the past few years. From viral videos to documentaries, we have been reminded constantly of the dangers of bullying. It has always been a problem; it’s only now that anyone has taken notice. We’ve seen it done in T.V. shows and movies, but the difference is that while it was being shown, it’s never been explored in any detail. It was far easier to gloss over the issue than to deal with it honestly. Director Michel Franco’s film After Lucia attempts to cover this topic in such a [ Read More ]

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