Vienna-based sales agent Square Eyes has acquired international rights to Theo Montoya’s debut feature “Anhell69,” ahead of its world premiere in Venice Film Festival’s International Critics’ Week. The producers include Bianca Oana, who also produced Alexander Nanau’s Oscar-nominated doc “Collective,” and Berlinale winner “Touch Me Not” by Adina Pintilie.
A haunting, cinematic portrait of the young queer scene in Medellín, “Anhell69” follows Montoya’s short film on the same subject, “Son on Sodom,” which premiered in Cannes 2020.
In “Anhell69,” a funeral car cruises the streets of Medellín, while a young director tells the story of his past in this violent and conservative city. He remembers the pre-production of his first film, a B-movie with ghosts. The young queer scene of Medellín forms the cast for the film, but the main protagonist dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 21, like many friends of the director. “Anhell69” explores the dreams, doubts and fears of a doomed generation, and the struggle to carry on making cinema.
“To go through my life is to talk about war, religion, cinema,” Montoya says. “And about when I met Camilo Najar, Sharlott, MH, Alejandro Paz, Julian David, Mendigana and Juan Perez. To talk about them is to evoke the film we could never make together, the annihilation and the ‘Non-Future’ of my generation, caused by suicide and drugs, and also by the oppression of a conservative and violent society, which tries to exterminate anything that would challenge the status quo.
“We are finally making ‘Anhell69,’ not how we first imagined, but in the manner life is allowing us to do it, me and my remaining friends, the protagonists of the film. ‘Anhell69’ is the immortalization of our recollections, our memory, our life before death, and maybe a warning for the generations and governments to follow.”
Wouter Jansen, CEO of Square Eyes, comments: “We have been following the project with great interest after seeing Theo’s impressive short film. We are off to a promising start with a world premiere in Venice and can’t wait to get this highly personal and touching film out into the world.”
Square Eye’s lineup in Venice this year also includes Orizzonti Short Film Competition title “The Fruit Tree” by Isabelle Tollenaere.
“Anhell69” is produced by Montoya and Juan Pablo Castrillon for Desvio Visual in Colombia, Bianca Oana for Monogram Film in Romania, and David Hurst for French outlet Dublin Films in coproduction with Balthasar Busmann and Maximilian Haslberger for Amerikafilm in Germany.
Read More About:
Source: Read Full Article