New York-based distribution company Kino Lorber has announced the acquisition of all North American rights to Güeros, the award-winning and critically acclaimed feature debut by Mexican writer/director Alonso Ruizpalacios.
Winner of the Best First Feature award at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival, the Best Cinematography award (given to DP Damian Garcia) at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival and the winner of a Special Jury Mention for Screenwriting and the New Auteurs Audience Award at AFI Fest 2014, Güeros was recently nominated to 12 Ariel Awards (Mexico’s Academy Awards), receiving more nominations than any other title this year.
Kino Lorber opens the film on May 20, 2015, at New York’s Film Forum, before taking it to key urban markets throughout the summer. Digital and home media release are scheduled for later in the year.
“Wry, visually audacious film” (Filmmaker Magazine), Güeros is set in 1999, when a year-long university strike both engaged and set adrift thousands of students in Mexico City. Sombra and Santos, who had been living in angst-ridden limbo due to the strike, begin to look for strange ways to kill time.
The unexpected arrival of Tomás, Sombra’s kid brother, pushes the trio into a long road trip in search of the recently hospitalized Epigmenio Cruz, a Mexican folk-rock hero who “made Bob Dylan cry.” But what they thought would be a simple trip to find their childhood idol, soon becomes a voyage of self-discovery across Mexico City’s invisible frontiers.
Beautifully shot in black-and-white (and in 4:3 aspect ratio), this coming of age comedy pays homage to the French New Wave (the director names Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Black Top and Godard’s Bande A Part as powerful influences), and American indie cinema, (such as the films by Jim Jarmusch), proving once again the global reach and confidence of a new generation of Mexican cinema that can win Academy Awards, reference international cinema and yet, create a unique aesthetic that captivates audiences nationwide.
Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber comments: “Güeros is an incredibly assured debut that has already captivated critics and audiences across the globe with its inimitable style, lovely pace and wry sense of humor. It’s exactly the type of film that we love to discover and bring to US audiences.”
