Inarritu, Reygadas back “We Are the Flesh” Mexican horror thriller

PanARMENIAN.Net - “The Revenant” director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu and Carlos Reygadas, whose 2002 debut “Japan” brought down the flag on a new generation of filmmakers that have revolutionized filmmaking in Mexico, are backing horror thriller “Tenemos la carne” (We Are the Flesh), a flagship title from another new wave of Mexican producers and directors, Variety reports.

Broadening its portfolio of envelope-pushing genre titles, Matteo Lovadina’s Paris-based sales company Reel Suspects has acquired world sales rights to “We Are the Flesh.” It will world premiere Feb. 2 at the Rotterdam Fest’s Bright Future section, with Inarritu and Reygadas taking a “present” credit. Post-production work was carried out at Reygadas’ Splendor Omnia ranch-facility nestling in the Mexican hills one-hour’s drive south of Mexico City. Reygadas, Splendor Omnia’s Natalia Lopez and Splendor Omnia take co-producer credits.

Mexican Emiliano Rocha Minter’s first feature, “We Are the Flesh” is set in a post-apocalypse Mexico, where a brother and sister, Lucio and Fauna, wander a ruined city for years in search of food and shelter. They find their way into one of its last surviving buildings, where a man makes them a dangerous offer to survive the outside world. As they help him transform the building into a womb-like cave, a disquieting sexual relationship emerges, along with a dynamic in which darker instincts do their destructive work.

“We Are the Flesh” is billed as a reaction to – and product of – a culture in which cruelty and lust are linked in a shocking way, as well as a poignant and provocative analysis of Mexico.

“We are very thrilled to work on Emiliano’s first feature that perfectly embodies the rise of a new wave of Mexican cinema,” Lovadina said.

He added: “We Are The Flesh’ is bold and provocative, raw and meaningful, playing with cinema genres in a very modern yet unseen way. I am sure the public will be mesmerized. Festival programmers and buyers will be intrigued by Emiliano’s visual style and direction.”

Rocha Minter broke through to attention – and revealed his technical chops and use of genre tropes with his third short, “Inside,” screened at 2013’s Rotterdam Festival, a B&W suspense-laden drama in which two young men friends dig a hole in the ground in a forest.