Roadside Attractions Acquires U.S. Rights to Diego Calva’s New Thriller “Dreamer”

Diego Calva’s dream(er) project will be hitting U.S. theaters…

Roadside Attractions has acquired the U.S. rights to Dreamer, a thriller starring the 31-year-old Mexican Golden Globe-nominated actor.

Diego CalvaExecutive-produced by Oscar nominee Yalitza Aparicio, the film examines enslaved child labor in the U.S.

Inspired by a landmark sweatshop case in El Monte, CA, the film marks the feature directorial debut of veteran producer Mohit Ramchandani.

It will bow exclusively in theaters nationwide on April 5, 2024.

Newcomer Ari Lopez leads an ensemble that also includes Alfredo Castro, Paulina Gaitan, Calva and Renata Vaca.

The story follows Jesús (Lopez), a young farmer in rural Mexico who dreams of playing for Club Puebla, his local soccer team. With the promise of training at a soccer camp in Los Angeles, Jesús is convinced by his father to leave home, but he soon discovers that he’s been sold to a sweatshop run out of a decrepit mansion in downtown Los Angeles. Jesús is then subjected to the grueling 18-hour work schedule dictated by El Jefe (Castro), a boss who promises freedom for those who complete their quotas, and whose brutality is motivated by his own desperation to provide for his family back in Mexico. Despite all, Jesús finds solace in Elena (Vaca), a girl who was similarly betrayed and sent to America under the guise of attending a fashion school. When Elena goes missing and another co-worker, Carlitos (Calva), is severely beaten for confronting El Jefe, Jesús realizes his only way out is a daring escape.

Ramchandani directed from his own script, with the film being produced and financed by Rufus Parker of P2 Films, Jon Graham and Matt Diezel. Ramchandani also served as producer. In addition to Aparicio, EPs included Luis Mandoki and Daljit DJ Parmar of Original Entertainment.

Dreamer has garnered praise from L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ Office, the Los Angeles Civil Rights Department, and former Department of State Chief of Staff Mark J Biedlingmaier, who stated: “It is one of the most emotionally engaging films I have ever seen. I’m excited to share this film with my colleagues in Washington, given this topic touches every single American today.”

Ramchandani underscored that “Dreamer has no political bias or agenda. It merely shows you, from the point of view of a young boy, what it would be like to have your dreams stolen and replaced with the hellish nightmare of slavery. His story is only one of over 2.8 million undocumented migrants that crossed the border in 2023 and whose forced labor is an unforgiveable stain on countless corporate products.”

Added Roadside Attractions Co-Presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, “Directorial debuts don’t get any more exciting than this. Mo takes us into a world that we can barely imagine, yet he convinces us it exists right under our noses. The visceral energy of Jesús’ journey is something filmgoers will not soon forget.”

Trailer Released for New Documentary “To The End,” Featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is fighting to the end

The trailer has been released to Rachel Lears’ new documentary To the End, featuring the 33-year-old Puerto Rican politician and activist who has served as the U.S. representative for New York’s 14th congressional district since 2019.

Alexandria Ocasio-CortezLears’ follow-up to her breakthrough film Knock Down the House documents young progressive activists and Ocasio-Cortez in their relentless effort to engineer major action combatting climate change.

“Fighting for change politically requires faith,” AOC says in the trailer. Regarding the urgent need to avoid a climate catastrophe, Ocasio-Cortez notes, “This is going to be the moon shot of our generation.”

To the End was acquired by Roadside Attractions after its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last January.

The version of the documentary that hits theaters on December 9 has been significantly revised since Sundance, to reflect dramatic changes in the political fortunes of climate change legislation.

“When the film premiered at Sundance, it was right after [Democratic] Senator Joe Manchin killed the Build Back Better bill. And there was at that point no particular prospect of major climate legislation passing,” Lears tells Deadline. “But as the gears continued churning for a few months, they did reach a deal in July and we knew right away we’ve got to reedit the film, we’ve got to shoot what we can to end the story this way.”

In August President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 into law, providing significant funding for green energy and other measures to attack climate change.

“We changed the ending, for one thing,” Lears explains. “The film now ends with historic legislation passing and our protagonists reflecting on this. And it really shows how their work that we see in the film leads to what happens. What they’ve done is to make politically impossible things become possible.”

Lears shortened her film by 10 minutes and also restructured it to align with what she calls a much more hopeful political picture.

“The film was inspiring to me and to many people who saw it, even in the previous cut, because our protagonists are so determined and motivated in their work,” Lears says. “But it’s even more inspiring now when you see that their work has resulted in historic material change.”

In addition to AOC, the film foregrounds Rhiana Gunn-Wright, director of climate policy at the Roosevelt Institute, Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, and Varshini Prakash, executive director, Sunrise Movement.

“We are building an army of young people to stop the climate crisis,” Prakash says in the trailer, “and create millions of good jobs for our generation.”

“When we met these folks in 2018 — well, we’ve known some of them before that — they were really setting out to deliberately shift the paradigm on climate. ‘Let’s turn the crisis into an opportunity to build a better society, to make economic and racial justice part of the solution.’ We wanted to see how far are they going to get with that, Lears says. “I don’t think we even imagined that they would manage to pressure the government into passing the biggest climate legislation, not just in U.S. history, but in world history. But that’s exactly what’s happened.”

Roadside Attractions & Vertical Entertainment Acquire North American Rights to Aubrey Plaza’s Thriller “Emily the Criminal”

Aubrey Plaza’s latest project is getting some roadside assistance…

Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment have acquired the North American rights to the 37-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress’ indie thriller Emily the Criminal.

Aubrey Plaza, Emily the CriminaThey’ve slated the film for an exclusive theatrical release this year, with Redbox joining the partnership for home entertainment distribution.

John Patton Ford’s feature directorial debut follows Emily (Plaza), who is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a handsome and charismatic middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi). Faced with a series of dead-end job interviews, Emily soon finds herself seduced by the quick cash and illicit thrills of black-market capitalism, and increasingly interested in her mentor Youcef. Together, they hatch a plan to bring their business to the next level in Los Angeles.

Ford penned the original screenplay, with Megalyn Echikunwoke and Gina Gershon rounding out the cast.

Plaza produced the film through her Evil Hag Productions banner,.

“John Patton Ford’s propulsive thriller Emily The Criminal is a spectacular directing debut with a revelatory performance from Aubrey Plaza as a wildly entertaining antiheroine that recalls Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde,” said Roadside Attractions’ Co-Presidents Howard Cohen & Eric d’Arbeloff.

“When we saw the film, we knew we had to have it. It is an exceptional story that is sure to excite and thrill audiences,” said Vertical Entertainment’s Partner & CEO Peter Jarowey. “We are excited to bring two long-standing collaborators in Roadside and Redbox together on one film that we care so deeply about. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”

“We continue to believe in the importance of the theatrical experience and the power of watching movies together on a big screen,” added the filmmakers in a joint statement, “and couldn’t be more excited and confident in our stellar partners at Roadside and Vertical to connect our film with audiences everywhere.”

Alejandro Monteverde to Direct Bio Pic About U.S. Catholic Nun Frances Xavier Cabrini

Alejandro Monteverde is retelling history…

The 43-year-old Mexican film director will helm the feature Cabrini, a bio pic about U.S. Catholic nun Frances Xavier Cabrini.

Alejandro Monteverde

Production starts on June 28 in Buffalo, NY and New York City.

Mother Cabrini was an Italian-American Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Catholic religious institute that was a major support to her fellow Italian immigrants to the United States. Cabrini, who lived from 1850 to 1917, was the first U.S. citizen to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church, on July 7, 1946 by Pope Pius XII.

Her beautification miracle involved restoring the sight of a day-old baby, Peter Smith, who had been blinded by a 50% silver nitrate solution instead of the normal 1% solution in the child’s eyes. Her canonization miracle involved the healing of a terminally ill member of her congregation.

Monteverde directed the 2006 feature Bella, which was released by Roadside Attractions, and the 2015 Emily Watson drama Little Boy

Roadside Attractions Acquires North American Rights to Rita Moreno’s Documentary “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided To Go For It”

Rita Moreno is ready to bring her life story to America…

Roadside Attractions has acquired North American distribution rights to the 2021 Sundance Film Festival documentary Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided To Go For It, about the 89-year-old Latina living legend.

Rita MorenoA release is planned for June 18.

Roadside’s deal excludes the television license to PBSAmerican Masters, which will present the exclusive U.S. broadcast premiere of the doc after it hits theaters.

In addition to Moreno, others featured in the Mariem Pérez Riera-directed doc include George Chakiris, Héctor Elizondo, Gloria Estefan, Tom Fontana, Morgan Freeman, Mitzi Gaynor, Whoopi Goldberg, Norman Lear, Eva Longoria, Justina Machado, Terrence McNally, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Karen Olivo.

The film covers Moreno’s 70-year-plus career rise and struggles, from her beginnings in poverty on a Puerto Rican farm to becoming a rare EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscars, Tony Awards) winner.

She’s the first Latina actress to win an Oscar (for her role as Anita in 1961’s West Side Story). Despite the win, studios continued to offer Moreno lesser roles as stereotypical ethnic minorities, ignoring her proven talent.

“Roadside Attractions, I’m so pleased for your commitment to my story and especially for making it available to a broader audience. Curtain Up!,” Moreno commented.

“Stars like Rita are few and far between, her showbiz story and personal remembrances resonate for a large, diverse audience, and the heights she continues to achieve are a true crowd pleasing uplift after the year we’ve all had,” said Roadside co-presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff.

“Rita is an incredible inspiration to so many, hers is a success story for all women who feel alone as they struggle to assert themselves with courage and bravery against heavy odds,” offered director Pérez Riera. “We are so thrilled to bring Rita to theaters for audiences to spend time with a woman who, when speaking about herself, speaks to and for a lot of us.”

“There were only a small group of distributors we hoped would take notice at Sundance. Roadside was at the top of that list,” said film’s producer, ACT III’s Brent Miller and EP Norman Lear. “We think we’re in great hands with Howard and Eric at the helm and couldn’t be more excited for the world to know the Rita we now know and love.”

American Masters Pictures and Act III Productions in association with Artemis Rising and Maramar Films are producers.

Sebastián Lelio’s “Gloria Bell,” the English Reimaging of His Hit “Gloria,” Opens Big in Limited Release

Sebastián Leliois making waves with his own English-language adaptation of his hit Spanish film…

The 45-year-old Chilean director’s Gloria Bell handily took the best specialty debut mantle over the weekend with one of the highest opening weekend per-theater averages for a limited release title this year.

Sebastián Lelio

The A24 feature starring Julianne MooreJohn Turturro and Michael Ceragrossed an estimated $154,775 in three-days, averaging $30,955. 

Gloria Bellis the re-imagined English-language and L.A.-set drama of a free-spirit, based on Lelio’s 2014 title, Gloria, set in Santiago, Chile, which took in over $2.1M via Roadside Attractions stateside.

Gloria Bell

Gloria Bell’s nearly $31K opening PTA outpaced Lelio’s 2014 original, Gloria, which took in over $56K in its opening weekend in January of that year, averaging $18,818. That film, however, was set in Chile, was in Spanish and starred a veteran Chilean actor, Paulina García, who is not well known to North American audiences. The film proved to have legs though with its $2.1M North American cume, which in part made it attractive for a re-make in English starring a well known actor here. 

Lelio adapted the story into English and then went on to direct his other projects, including Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman ($2.02M cume) and Disobedience starringRachel Weiszand Rachel McAdams. That film, released by Bleecker Streetlast April, continues to be the filmmaker’s North American benchmark with a $237K opening weekend in five theaters ($47,479 PTA). It went on to cume over $3.49M on this continent.

Lelio and Moore reconnected after the director completed Disobedience. “She finished her other projects and we had a window in 2017,” said Lelio earlier in the week. “We put financing together very quickly and built a ‘family’ around Julianne including John Turturro and Michael Cera. I’ve always loved John Turturro’s work.” 

A24 reported “enthusiastic sellouts” for Gloria Bell in New York and L.A. throughout the weekend. The company will roll the title into top markets this week ahead of a nationwide expansion set for March 22.

NEW RELEASES
3 Faces (Kino Lorber) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $7,196
Babylon (Kino Lorber Repertory / Seventy-Seven) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $20,096
Badla (Reliance) NEW [94 Theaters] Weekend $614,328, Average $6,535
Ferrante Fever (Greenwich Entertainment) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $4,000
Gloria Bell (A24) NEW [5 Theaters] Weekend $154,775, Average $30,955
The Kid (Lionsgate Premiere) NEW [267 Theaters] Weekend $505,000, Average $1,891

Hayek’s “Beatriz at Dinner” to Open This Year’s Sundance Film Festival: London

Salma Hayek’s latest project is ready to see the Sun(dance) across the pond…

Miguel Arteta’s Beatriz at Dinner, starring the 50-year-old Mexican actress, will open this year’s Sundance Film Festival: London.

Salma Hayek in Beatriz at Dinner

The film, which had its world premiere earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, will be introduced to London audiences by Arteta, Hayek and screenwriter Mike White in the capital city’s Picturehouse Central cinema on June 1.

In the critically acclaimed film, Hayek plays Beatriz, an immigrant from a poor town in Mexico, who has drawn on her innate kindness to build a career as a health practitioner in Southern California. Don Strutt is a real estate developer whose cutthroat tactics have made him a self-made, self-satisfied billionaire. When the two polar opposites meet at a dinner party, their worlds collide and neither is ever the same.

The dark comedy also stars Connie Britton, Chloe Sevigny and Jay Duplass.

Roadside Attractions is set to release the title in the United States on June 9.

“We look forward to launching our fifth festival in London with Beatriz at Dinner, a masterful dramedy of errors from director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Mike White and starring Salma Hayek,” said Sundance Film Festival director John Cooper. “This was a standout at our Utah Festival in January and is a wonderful example of the continued innovation and creativity of our independent filmmakers that we’ll showcase in London again this year.”

The full program for the fifth edition of Sundance’s London edition is expected to be announced soon. It will feature international and UK premieres of films from films that were featured in Sundance in January.

Sundance Institute will also be launching a festival in Hong Kong in September.

Sundance Film Festival: London will take place from June 1-4.

Roadside Attractions/FilmNation Acquires North American Rights to Hayek’s “Beatriz at Dinner”

Salma Hayek is bringing dinner to North American audiences…

Roadside Attractions and FilmNation Entertainment have acquired the North American rights to Miguel Arteta’s Beatriz at Dinner, starring the 50-year-old Mexican actress.

Salma Hayek

The film, written by Mike White, centers on an immigrant from a poor town in Mexico. Hayek’s title character, Beatriz, has drawn on her innate kindness to build a career as a health practitioner. Doug Strutt (John Lithgow) is a cutthroat, self-satisfied billionaire. When these two opposites meet at a dinner party, their worlds collide and neither will be the same.

Roadside Attractions and FilmNation also acquired distribution rights for the film in Australia and New Zealand.

The film premiered on January 23 at the Eccles Theatre in Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival.

Trailer Released for Tommy Lee Jones’ “The Homesman” with Cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto

It looks like Rodrigo Prieto’s feels most at home on the range… And, it shows in his latest project.

Roadside Attractions and Saban Films have released the trainer for the western film The Homesman, in which the Oscar-nominated Mexican filmmaker worked as the cinematographer.

The Homesman

The critically acclaimed frontier drama is Tommy Lee Jones’ latest writer-director effort. It stars Jones and Hilary Swank. In exchange for helping George Briggs (Jones), a claim jumper, Mary Bee Cuddy (Swank) recruits him to help her escort three insane women from Nebraska to Iowa.

The film was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It went on to premiere at Telluride, and is next at the Hamptons fest.

Prieto previously earned an Academy Award nomination for his cinematography on Ang Lee’s American West-based Brokeback Mountain.

The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 7, 2014.

First Trailer Released for “In Secret,” Starring Oscar Isaac

Oscar Isaac’s secret is out…

The first official trailer for the 33-year-old Guatemalan and Cuban American actor’s latest project In Secret has just been released.

Oscar Isaac in In Secret

Originally called Thérèse Raquin, the period drama stars Elizabeth Olsen as Thérèse, the young sexually repressed heroine of Émile Zola’s 1867 novel who finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage to her cousin Camille (Harry Potter‘s Tom Felton).

When Camille’s artist pal Laurent (Oscar Isaac) comes to visit, adulterous sparks fly hurtling Thérèse down a path of obsession, love and madness.

Roadside Attractions has set a post-Valentine’s Day release for the film, on February 21, 2014.