Strand Releasing Acquires North American Rights to Lio Mehiel’s Trans Drama “Mutt”

Lio Mehiel’s latest project is headed to theaters in the United States. 

Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to the Sundance Film Festival award-winning trans drama Mutt, starring the Puerto Rican and Greek actor, artist and filmmaker.

Lio MehielPenned and directed by Chilean-Serbian filmmaker Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, Mutt had its world premiere at Sundance where it won a Special Jury Acting Award for Mehiel. It went on to have its international premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.

Described as an emotional drama overlapping past, present and future, Mutt follows Feña, a young trans man bustling through life in New York City. Over the course of a single hectic day, Feña is swept through the extremes of human emotion, when people who seemed to have disappeared when he transitioned are suddenly back in his life. He unexpectedly reconnects with an estranged ex-boyfriend (Cole Doman), is suddenly saddled with his wayward little sister (MiMi Ryder), and nervously awaits their father (Alejandro Goic), who’s arriving from Chile for a visit that promises to be anything but easy. Feña must stay afloat and resilient amidst all this despite being driven to a near breaking point.

“As a trans man, growing up I didn’t have many role models. My goal in making this film was to create room for people — of any background — to feel safe, seen, and less alone,” said Lungulov-Klotz.

“Strand is the perfect home for Mutt and I’m deeply grateful to have a platform to be able to bring it to audiences. I hope this film can help carve more space for queer identities in our culture. Given the turbulent times we’re living in, it’s more important now than ever before”, said Lungulov-Klotz.

“We’re so honored to be working with the team who created Mutt, its a rare film that transcends the typical queer stories through its unique storytelling which makes it relatable to all audiences and communities,” said Strand Releasing’s Jon Gerrans.

Lungulov-Klotz previously participated in the Sundance Institute Labs, the Tribeca Film Institute, and the Ryan Murphy HALF Initiative Program. His award winning trans-themed short film Still Liam played at several festivals and was championed by queer filmmakers Ira Sachs and Silas Howard, who have both become mentors.

Mehiel became the first talent to win best actor at Sundance. Mehiel began their career as a child actor on Broadway and starred in WeCrashed (Apple+) and Tales of the City (Netflix).

Chile Enters Fernando Guzzoni’s “Blanquita” into Oscars Best International Film Race

Fernando Guzzoni may be contending for an Academy Award…

Chile has submitted the 39-year-old film director and scriptwriter’s Blanquita as its official entry for the Best International Film race at the Oscars.

Fernando GuzzoniGuzzoni’s film explores a real-life child prostitution scandal that rocked the country in the early 2000s.

The film was chosen as Chile’s official entry by members of the Chilean Film Academy, in its third selection since its creation in 2018.

“Once again we are witnessing both the quality and diversity of our cinema, as well as the criteria and commitment of our partners: 70% of them voted in this process, the most participatory since we as an Academy have been in charge of choosing the film that represents Chile at the Oscars”, said the body’s executive director Josefina Undurraga.

Blanquita, Fernando Guzzoni Blanquita world premiered in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival this year, winning the best screenplay prize for Guzzoni.

Big screen debutant Laura López stars as an 18-year-old resident of a foster home, who is a key witness in a trial against powerful politicians and businessmen implicated in a child sex scandal. As questions are asked, her role in the scandal becomes unclear.

Award-winning veteran actor Alejandro Goic co-stars as a priest who runs the home where the young woman lives. Other cast members include Amparo Noguera, Marcelo Alonso and Daniela Ramirez.

The feature is inspired by the real-life early 2000s Spiniak Case involving a paedophilia ring run by an entrepreneur and sports club owner, which provided services to a number of high-placed politicians and businessmen.

The case divided Chile as it went through the courts, with doubts being cast on the testimony of key witness who was caught up in the ring as a minor and accused two senators of abusing her.

Guzzoni spent a year investigating the case in-depth before writing his screenplay.

“I am very honored that Blanquita is Chile’s representative at the Oscars and grateful for the support of all my colleagues at the Film Academy,” said Guzzoni.

“The film puts forward in a thriller key an urgent issue about impunity and structural injustice in our country, therefore, it combines audience vocation and a story with high social sensitivity,” he continued.

“We believe that the film being awarded in Venice, the great reception from critics and the support of our international partners and distributors will allow us to carry out a campaign that seeks to make Blanquita’s message visible and position the film in the best possible way.”

Blanquita is Guzzoni’s fourth feature after La ColorinaCarne de Perro and Jesús, about a troubled, teenager who turns to violence in search of thrills.

Blanquita is a powerful and current movie, which should make an impression on the Academy members. I can’t wait for them to see it,” said New Europe CEO Naszewski.

Chile won the Oscar for best international film in 2018 with Sebastían Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman, while Pablo Larrain’s No was nominated for the 2012-13 race and Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent was nominated in the Best Documentary category last year.

The deadline for the Best International Film category closed on October 3, with around 85 titles being publicly declared so far. Last year, there were submissions from 93 countries.

Guerra’s “Embrace of the Serpent” Wins Best Film at Mar del Plata Film Fest

Ciro Guerra continues his winning ways…

The 34-year-old Colombian film director and screenwriter ‘s latest film Embrace of the Serpent took the Astor award for best film at the 30th edition of the Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata, which officially closed on Saturday night.

Ciro Guerra's Embrace of the Serpent

Earlier this year, the Colombian-Venezuelan-Argentine co-production topped the Director’s Fortnight at the last edition of the Cannes Film Festival, and was selected by the Colombian Film Academy as the country’s submission for the Oscars in the best foreign-language film category.

The best actor award was delivered to the entire male cast of Pablo Larrain‘s The Club: Alfredo Castro, Roberto Farias, Jaime Vadell and Alejandro Goic.

The film, Chile’s Oscar candidate, also grabbed best screenplay for writers Guillermo Calderon, Daniel Villalobos and Pablo Larrain.

The best actress award went to Erica Rivas (Wild Tales), for Ariel Rotter‘s Incident Light.

In the Latin American competition, the jury formed by Valdivia film fest director Raul Camargo Borquez, Jang Byungwon, and Andrea Picard selected Nelson Carlo de los Santos AriasSanta Teresa & Other Stories as best film, and Natural Arpajou‘s Princesas for best short.

Benjamin Naishtat‘s Locarno entry El movimiento won best film in the local competition.

The best director award went to Fernando Salem for How Most Things Work.

The only A class festival in Latin America, Mar del Plata runs October 30 to Novenber 7.

Here’s a look at the main awards:

International Competition
Best Film: Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra)
Best Director: Ivan Ostrochovsky, for Koza.
Best Actor: the male cast of The Club – Alfredo Castro, Roberto Farías, Jaime Vadell and Alejandro Goic.
Best Actress: Erica Rivas (Incident Light)
Best Screenplay: The Club – Guillermo Calderon, Daniel Villalobos and Pablo Larrain.

Latin American Competition
Best Film: Santa Teresa & Other Stories (Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias)
Best Short Film: Princesas (Natural Arpajou)

Argentine Competition
Best Film: El movimiento (Benjamin Naishtat)
Special Mention: Docile Bodies (Matias Scarvaci and Diego Gachassin)
Best Director: Fernando Salem, for How Most Things Work.
Best Short Film: Fantastico (Matias Sposato)
Best Short Film Director: Pablo Camaiti, for Gomorra.
DAC Award for Best Argentine Film in All Competitions: Docile Bodies

Other Awards
FIPRESCI Award: Incident Light (Ariel Rotter)
Best Work in Progress: The Corroborators (Luis Bernardez)
Jury Prize Work in Progress: La helada negra (Maximiliano Schonfeld)
Alfredo Alcon Award: Guillermo Francella