Gael Garcia Bernal to topline “El Ardor” modern-day Western

PanARMENIAN.Net - Participant Media is reteaming with No star Gael Garcia Bernal on El Ardor, the first film from their joint Participant PanAmerica initiative, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Billed as a modern-day Western, the action-adventure stars Garcia Bernal opposite Alice Braga. Writer-director Pablo Fendrik (Blood Appears, The Mugger) is shooting the film in Argentina. The feature is described as a tale of survival and revenge set in in the Amazon jungle. Garcia Bernal plays a mysterious man who emerges from the Argentinean rainforest to rescue the kidnapped daughter (Braga) of a poor farmer after mercenaries murder her father and take over his property.

Ardor is being financed through Participant PanAmerica, with Argentina's Magma Cine, Brazil's Bananeira Filmes and France's Manny Films co-producing. BAC Films is handling international sales, excluding North America and Latin American, and will shop the project to foreign buyers at the upcoming Cannes Film Market (sales commenced at AFM in the fall).

Juan Pablo Gugliotta and Nathalia Videla Pena and Garcia Bernal serve as the film’s producers. Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King are executive producing alongside Canana's Pablo Cruz and Telefe's Axel Kuschevatzky.

Launched earlier this year, Participant PanAmerica is an initiative to develop and finance 10 to 12 films over five years with Mexico’s Canana, Chile’s Fabula and Colombia’s Dynamo.