John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Belgium’s Stenola Productions, behind Joachim Lafosse’s 2022 Cannes Competition player “The Restless” and this year’s San Sebastian’s Golden Shell contender “A Silence,” has boarded “Elena,” written by Cannes Camera d’Or winner César Díaz (“Our Mothers”) and a potential highlight at this month’s Ventana Sur Proyecta forum.
Stenola, which looks set to handle part of post-production, joins Norwegian lead producer Staer, founded by Elisa Fernanda Pirir, and Lithuania’s Just a Moment on a film which marks the anticipated feature debut of Dalia Huerta Cano, whose “Flesh That Remembers” won best doc short at Mexico’s Morelia Film Festival and DF Docs.
Producers Ragna Midtgard and Pirir and director Dalia Huerta will attend Ventana Sur, a joint venture of Cannes Marché du Film, the Cannes Festival and Argentine film-TV agency INCAA, to court a sales agent and Latin American partners in Mexico and Guatemala to develop the screenplay.
Scheduled to shoot in 2024, and pre-sold in Norway to prestigious public broadcaster, NRK, and supported with development funding from the Norwegian Film Institute, the power of “Elena” comes in part from its take on the emotional fall-out from the actions of big European conglomerates in Latin America which most Europeans will never have thought about.
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