Paula Martel’s Buzzy Malaga-Bound Teen Western ‘First We Take Anillaco’ Builds Eye-Catching Four-Way Co-Production Alliance (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent In a sign of a potentially potent Latin American movie project, “First We Take Anillaco,” a teen Western set in Argentina’s direst of crises in 2001, has forged an eye-catching four-way alliance between Argentina’s Colectivo Rutemberg, Chile’s Color Haus, Brazil’s Filmes Sem Sapato and Uruguay’s Circular Media.

Subject of a bold pitch by writer-director Paula Martel at Mar del Plata’s Film.Ar in 2017 where she pulled out a (mock) revolver to illustrate the film’s climax, “First We Take Anillaco” will now hit this week’s 2025 Malaga Festival Fund & Co-Production Event (MAFF) as one of its buzz projects.

Much of that buzz turns on the movie’s explosive genre cocktail. “Blending magical realism with raw, female gaze and punk energy, the film is a cinematic act of resistance: a fable about youth, disillusionment, and the eternal cycle of deception in Latin America,” Martel told Variety.

Inspired by the unpublished “El Plan Anillaco” by Argentinian journalist-writer Agustín Fontenla, “First We Take Anillaco” is set in December 2001 just after Argentina’s banking system had collapsed, compounding the country’s deep recession, sparking 55% poverty levels.