“Huesera” Producer Machete Unveils Cachorra, 2022-23 Slate

After Huesera, a double winner from Tribeca, Mexican Machete, headed by Edher Campos, returns to the director’s gender with “Cachorra,” a deeply terrifying horror film set on the desert border between Mexico and the United States.

The debut of genre writer and consultant Elisa Puerto Opel from Madrid, who drafted the winner of the Sitges Prize for Audiences. “La venganza de Jairo” and “Cachorra” is one of the latest additions to five 2002-2003 films at Machete, the product of Cannes winners “Leap Year” and “La Jaula de Oro”. It forms part of a strong lineup at the Sanfic-Mórbido Laboratory this week, which includes several business proposals for Sanfic Industria,

All of Machete’s films, three of which are now in post-production, carry a social point of view. The trio—”Huesera,” “Pups” and “The Path of Silence”—show Machete driving into genre and LGBTQ themes, and has quickly emerged as the latest focus on many of Latin America’s most exciting films. A breakdown in Machete’s roster in 2022-23:

“Huesera” (Michel Garza Cervera)

“Huesera” is both gendered and LGBTQ. A two-time winner of Tribeca, including New Narrative Director, and chosen by XYZ Films for most global sales, it is certainly one of the most impressive Spanish-language films of the year, with impressive theatrical potential in Latin America and beyond. “A terrifying nightmare for the body breaking bones,” he said. diverse, where a mother is forced to confront her true horror: the self-denying life choices she made just to suit them. “Leap Year” and “La Jaula de Oro” are also first features.

“Machete has a strong streak in first-time directors and ‘Huesera’ is the first feature, produced with Disruptiva Films, and it’s really good. It’s also made by women-writers (Garza Cervera, Appia Castillo), producer [Paulina Villavicencio]Her director, DP (Noor Rubio Sherwell) and Artistic Director (Anna G Peledo) are all women, and it’s all about women.”

“Cachorra,” (Elisa Puerto Opel)

A live-action genre story of human devastation on the US border, the Land of Strangers, ‘Cachorra’ revisits one of the oldest legends and reflects on what society considers an ‘intruder’ in no man’s land–our land,” writer and director Puerto Opel. It disintegrates in the border town of Mexicali, which is rife with drought, corruption and canteens. Zoo veterinarian Clara Vasquez brings up an unusual female wolf pup, with whom she immediately communicates. Suddenly, strange things happen and it seems that the terrified wolves want to get the pup back. The film expands to reflect the relations between the United States and Mexico. “The US is causing chaos and Mexico is paying for it,” Campos said, describing the film’s dark humor as “a bit like Let the Right One In,” with some echoes of sense of the irony of Luis Estrada’s “Herod’s Law.”

“Way of Silence” (Isabel Cristina Fregoso)

Another feature debuting, this time filmed in Jalisco with the support of the Jalisco State Film Commission, is a modernist drama that mixes musical genres with LGBTQ rhythms framed as an upcoming female-led Western group after the Mexican Revolution. In it, the teenage hero leaves the farm where she grew up as an adopted girl to search for her father, dressed as a man. Perfectly shot, Campos said, The Way of Silence nicely captures the feel of life in the Mexican countryside, in the period story of a girl who makes her own revolution to find herself.” The film is about to finish editing.

“A Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara,” (Federico Sechetti)

Produced by Los Angeles-based Machete and Amplitud and French Thierry Lenoville and starring Sylvie Testud (“La Vie en rose”) and Olivier Rbourdin (“Taken”), the film, directed by Federico Cecchetti, is “a tribute to the original millennials of Tarahumara and to Antonin Artaud,” he says. Campos. Set in the year 1936, in the Tarahumara Mountains, the film follows Raynari, a young citizen whose life is changed with the arrival of the troubled Artaud, a pioneering French writer, actor and playwright. An encounter with Tarahumara brings Artaud a sense of peace. Returning to France, he ended up in a psychiatric institution. Campos said the film is now in post-delivery in time for a major festival, the first chapter of 2023.

“white rabbit”

A late-’90s story of teens on each side of the US-Mexico border produced by Paulina Villavicencio (“Gairo’s Revenge”), “White Rabbit” was set to become the second feature of José Lomas Hervert, whose film “Potosi” won Best First Mexican Feature Film. Guanajuato International. festival. Sadly, Lomas Hervert passed away in late July. But his dream remains. “We don’t want to lose the project,” Campos said.

“dog thief” (Vinko Tomicic)

The story of a 13-year-old shoe-shine orphan boy in La Paz who thinks the client might be his father, Vinko Tomičić’s outing won Best in Show at the Spring 2019 Cinéfondation Résidence in Cannes in a competition also submitted by Elena Lopez-Rera “Water” and Carla Simone “El Caras” .

The pan-Latin co-production is supported by Zafiro Cinema, founded in 2018 by Campos and producer Gabriela Maire.

Very few Mexican production companies have received higher awards at festivals than Machete. “Leap Year” won two 2009 Camera d’Or awards at Cannes for Best Debut Film, “La Jaula de Oro” Un Certain Talent at Cannes 2013, and Un Certain Regard and “Huesera” awards in Tribeca. Where would Campos like to take Mengele in the next few years?

“Obviously I’m committed to talking about social issues. I really love telling adult stories and working with female directors. Now I’m mostly focused on that and on sex. I want to work with trans directors and transgender stories. It’s something we don’t have in Mexico,” Campos said.