Mía Maestro is ready to kick some grass…
The 44-year-old Argentine actress and singer will star in Beneath the Grass, a drama about the criminal justice system and marijuana incarceration rates.
Maestro will star opposite Quincy Isaiah and Jeff Kober in the film, which will hit the market at the Cannes Film Festival next week.
The film will begin production next month in New Jersey. Paradigm is representing worldwide sales for the film.
Beneath the Grass is set in 2008, capturing both the economic recession and the “Yes We Can” summer, and follows a single Latina mother whose illegal marijuana business is jeopardized when her young son befriends the new neighbors, a young white boy and his police officer grandfather.
According to production research, in 2008, Latino people were four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people, while Black people were seven times more likely. Despite marijuana legalization in several states in the years since, the research explains, arrest rates have risen with racial disparities still prevalent.
The film marks the directorial debuts of William Bermudez and Sam Friedman, who wrote the screenplay, with a story by Bermudez, Friedman and others.
Following roles in The Motorcycle Diaries, Frida and the Twilight franchise, Maestro recently appeared in the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations and The Cow That Sang a Song Into the Future, which debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
She will next star in Jose Rivera’s Alina of Cuba, a biopic about Fidel Castro’s exiled daughter Alina Fernandez, directed by Miguel Bardem.
The cast also includes Rachel Ticotin, Rachel Stubington and newcomer Elizabeth Cuzzupoli.