LOCARNO, Switzerland — Anna Alarcón, co-star of Liliana Torres’ South by Southwest winner “Mamífera” is attached to take the lead in Torres’ follow-up “Climacteric,” which is being brought onto the market this market at Locarno’s Match Me! networking forum.
In a parallel move, Barcelona-based boutique studio Filmax has acquired Spanish theatrical distribution rights to “Climacteric,” which is produced, like “Mamífera,” by Barcelona’s Distinto Films and Edna Cine.
Also written by Torres, “Climacteric” (“Climateri”) sees Selva (Alarcón) beginning to experience strange physical sensations after the death of her mother. She travels to her hometown to sell the family house, little knowing she will never return to her pleasant urban life-style. In the rural town she will discover that that stockbreeding is ravaging the local landscape. The doctor diagnoses that she is suffering a premature menopause. But her transformation will go beyond the limits of the human body to vindicate the fight of nature to survive.
“With ‘Mamifera,’ Liliana Torres talked about a subject that had not been much addressed in the cinema until then: the desire not to be a mother, in a sensitive and profound way, which provoked a very positive response from women who finally saw themselves represented on the screen,” said producer Carla Sospedra Salvadó at Edna Cine, who is presenting the project to potential international partners at Locarno Pro’s Match Me!
“With ‘Climacteric,’ she seeks to do the same with another taboo subject that also needs to start generating references: menopause,” added Sospedra Salvadó, who produces with Distinto Films’ Miriam Porté and Gerard Marginedas.
Climateri
Participating at the Cine Qua Non Lab, “Climacteric” has received both a Catalan Government ICEC development grant and a Catalan Scriptwriters Guild grant, Catalonia having built one of the most developed of film-TV support systems in Europe, outside France.
Torres’ “Family Tour” bowed at San Sebastián, “What Went Wrong?” at Tallinn’s Black Night Festival, “Mamífera,” Torres’ breakout third feature world premiered in main competition at SXSW, winning Best Performance for lead Maria Rodríguez Soto.
Alarcón has come to increasing attention, co-starring in not only only Mamífera and Netflix series The Innocent but appearing in three episodes of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Venice-selected The New Years, a Movistar Plus+-Arte France co-production. This March, Alarcón won best actress award at Málaga’s Zonacine for “Join Me for Breakfast.”
Edna Cine was founded in 2021 in the foothills of Barcelona, “driven by the desire to discover and support emerging filmmakers exploring a unique and personal cinematic voice,” said Sospedra Salvadó.
“We’re focusing on adaptable, sustainable models: combining full productions and minority co-productions, across both fiction and documentary, with carefully targeted theatrical releases,” she told Variety.
“Our slate leans toward art-house projects with strong international appeal. Our approach is to remain nimble while staying true to the creative heart of each project, ensuring every film finds its best path to reach its audience, she added.
Edna Cine’s Match Me! Slate also takes in “Memorial,” by Sergi Pérez, a study of loss, whose protagonist, Manel, is curator of the world’s largest art gallery.