The Box by Lorenzo Vigas
The Venice Film Festival has unveiled this morning the lineup for the official competition of its upcoming 78th edition, which will feature four films by Latin American directors: Spencer by Chilean director Pablo Larraín, Sundown by Mexican director Michel Franco, The Box / La caja by Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas, and Official Competition / Competencia oficial by the Argentine duo Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
Vigas returns to Venice after he won the Golden Lion for his 2015 debut feature From Afar with The Box which tells the story of Hatzin, a teenager from Mexico City, who travels to collect the remains of his father, which have been found in a communal grave in the northern part of Mexico. But a casual encounter with a man who shares a physical resemblance with his father fills Hatzin with both doubts and hope about his parent’s true whereabouts.
Mexican director Michel Franco, who won the Silver Lion last year with New Order, is also back this year with his new film Sundown starring Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Official Competition, the latest film by the Argentine duo of Cohn and Duprat (Living Stars, The Distinguished Citizen) was shot in Spain and stars Spanish actors Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas and Argentine actor Óscar Martínez. The comedy tells the story of a multimillionaire businessman who, in search of transcendence and social prestige, decides to make a film that will leaves its mark. In order to achieve his dream, he hires the best: a stellar team made up of the famous filmmaker Lola Cuevas and two renowned actors, owners of enormous talent, but with an even bigger ego: the Hollywood actor Félix Rivero and radical theater actor Iván Torres. They are both legends, but not exactly the best of friends. Through an increasingly eccentric series of trials set by Lola, Felix and Iván must face not only each other, but also their own legacies.
Larraín’s biopic Spencer on Lady Di starring Kristen Stewart covers a critical weekend in the early nineties, when Princess Diana decided her marriage to Prince Charles wasn’t working, and that she needed to veer from a path that put her in line to one day be queen. Larraín’s most recent participation at Venice was two years ago when he premiered his drama Ema in the official competition.
The 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival will take place September 1-11 in Italy.
