Martika Ramirez Escobar: Last News

Christopher Vourlias Music Box Films has acquired the North American rights to writer-director Martika Ramirez Escobar’s genre-bending “Leonor Will Never Die,” which won the Special Jury Prize for Innovative Spirit in Sundance this year after premiering in the festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition.The film tells the story of Leonor Reyes, once a major player in the Filipino film industry during its ragtag action cinema glory days, but now in her golden years and struggling to pay her bills. When she reads an advertisement for a screenplay contest, Leonor begins tinkering with an unfinished script about a young man avenging his brother’s murder at the hand of thugs.But after a falling television knocks her unconscious and sends her into a coma, Leonor finds herself inside her incomplete movie, re-writing and editing on the fly in a fantastical bid to complete the film while her body lies in limbo.

How great does Martika Ramirez Escobar’s surreal, award-winning film “Leonor Must Die” sound? This first feature transports a retired screenwriter of Filipino action films into the story of one of her own unfinished scripts. The film is the official Midnight Madness closing night Film of the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, and it’s already won a ton of awards, including the Special Jury Prize for Innovative Spirit at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Films can be a form of escapism. Sitting down in a dark cinema with a big screen and great sound immerses you in the action playing out in front of you.