Düsseldorf, Germany-based Patra Spanou Film has picked up world sales rights to “The Newcomers” (“Los nuevos”), the latest film from Mexico’s Rodrigo Plá (“The Other Tom”) in his first venture into kid-targeted films.
According to Patra Spanou, she acquired it soon after its world premiere at Locarno’s Kids Screenings. “I have been following Rodrigo Plá´s work for a while and I am delighted to start our first collaboration with ’The Newcomers,’” she told Variety.
“With his latest film, he manages to touch difficult subjects like forced displacement, migration and environmental exploitation in an accessible way for children by making a film about friendship and adventure to entertain the whole family.”
Filmed in Mexico’s striking Tabasco region by DP Ángel Jara Taboada, “The Newcomers” follows three tweens led by Mateo who sometimes breaks the fourth wall as he narrates their adventure. Tiana and her family have sought refuge in Mateo and his brother Tomas’ village but the pollution they have fled has also reached the village. Along with Tiana’s pet dog Nube, they set out to find out what is poisoning the rivers.
The Newcomers
Plá’s sixth feature is an adaptation of the book “They Came with the Wind” (“Llegaron con el viento”) by his regular collaborator, screenwriter and wife Laura Santullo.
“Indeed, it’s our first film for children and it’s been a challenge. It’s a film that, through adventure, tries to bring complex issues like migration or the importance of protecting water from the greed of mining closer to children. So, the project has meant, on one hand, experimenting with new narrative tools, since it’s aimed at a young audience but at the same time we can recognize in it some of our long-standing concerns, like our interest in social justice or the importance of having a critical spirit about what surrounds us,” Plá told Variety.
He added: “While we’ve brought child characters to the screen before, this is the first time we’ve given voice to a child’s subjectivity. In ‘The Newcomers,’ Mateo is both the protagonist and the narrator. What happens on screen is the memory of a special year when a group of refugees arrived in his town, a year of growth and experiences that he perceives as epic. And that’s how the film tells it, with several narrative nods to the idea that what happens in the images isn’t so much what truly happened, but a subjective reconstruction of events, a tale.”
The filmmaking couple now have three new projects in development: a musical, a dystopian drama and a black-comedy thriller. “We’ll see which one gets funding first. As you can see, we like to move around, try new things. ‘Los nuevos’ is a clear example of that.”
Plá, who first broke out with 2007 social thriller “The Zone,” which debuted at the Venice Film Festival, has dabbled in various genres. “But they all have some recurring concerns, like the tension between the public and the private or an interest in social processes, though always told from an intimate place, from the personal experience of the protagonists,” he explained.
“But really, I think the films one makes change along with oneself; they largely reflect the concerns or interests of each stage of life.”
“The Newcomers” is a Buenaventura Cine production in co-production with Mr. Miyagi Films. Gabriela Maldonado, Plá, Santullo, Ángeles Hernández and David Matamoros serve as producers.
Patra Spanou Film also had Diego Llorente’s “How the Lights Get In” (aka “Dying Bird”), sneak peeked at this year’s Locarno Spanish Film Previews on Aug. 9, which impressed as the portrait of a younger generation’s recreation of bedrock affective bonds beyond those of a traditional couple. Lara González Lobo at Failo Cine, in Gijón, northern Spain, produces with Báltico (Spain) and Uruguay’s tarkiofilm.
The 79th Locarno Film Festival kicked off on Aug. 5 and wraps on Aug. 15.
John Hopewell contributed to this article.
The Newcomers