Chile’s Quijote Films Reteams with El Viaje and Gema Films (EXCLUSIVE)

Chile’s Quijote Films, run by Giancarlo Nasi, has reteamed with former partners El Viaje Films of Spain and Argentina’s Gema Films on two separate projects.

Attending the Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market, Nasi said: “This market has been very good for us because as one of the outfits selected in the company matching program of the Co-Production Market, we have met with a lot of new firms from different countries. At the same time, we’ve been able to advance and confirm our collaboration with past partners.”

Quijote Films and El Viaje Films, partners on Theo Court’s “White on White,” which garnered the Venice Horizons Best Director and Fipresci awards and was Chile’s entry to the best international feature film Oscar race last year, are reteaming on Court’s latest film, “Tres noches negras” (“Three Dark Nights”).

“Our previous collaboration on Theo’s “White on White” was one of the most successful we’ve ever had. For this reason, we are very happy to continue working with Theo and El Viaje on this new and inspiring project,” said Nasi. 

“El Viaje is a benchmark for Canarian and Spanish production. Theo, for his part, is on an upward career trajectory and it’s amazing how it grows every year. In ‘Tres noches negras,’ Theo opens up to a fascinating and little-explored genre in Latin America: a murder mystery/film noir, while revealing the deepest social structures in Chile,” he added. 

Court, who is currently polishing the screenplay with Samuel M. Delgado (“White on White”), said about the renewed partnership: “Reinforcing these ties for my next film makes it, I think, more enriching, consolidating a way to make a cinema in a collaborative way and with people who know my way of approaching cinema, who recognize my concerns and support me in my objectives.”

Set in a tiny rural town in present-day Chile where colonial structures still stand, “Tres noches negras,” inspired by a myth from Southern Chile, centers on a mestizo peasant who, beneath a full moon, asks the devil to kill his wife’s young Haitian lover. His wish is granted, the body appearing on the grounds of the mansion that rules over the peasant’s feudal community. This sets of an investigation that will reveal a Chile still socially anchored in the tenets of colonization.

Meanwhile, Argentina’s Gema Films has boarded María Paz Gonzalez’s “Morir de Pie” (“To Die on Your Feet”), presented by Quijote at the 2022 Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in Spain last year.

Said Nasi: “Working again with María Paz [Gonzalez] and Gema Juárez Allen after ‘Lina de Lima’ [which played in Toronto’s Discovery section] could not excite me more, I deeply admire them. “Together we made a musical comedy that talked about motherhood, migration and femininity: They are the perfect team,” he added. 

“Morir de Pie” turns on Cruz, an actress who works as a simulated patient for medical students. One night, while jogging at the gym in her building, she sees a body fall, but instead of helping, she keeps on jogging. Her actions are recorded by security cameras and leads to a police inquiry. Unable to explain what happened, she realizes that her work has desensitized her, compelling her to set out on a journey to recover her repressed emotions. 

“It’s a pleasure to work again with Maria Paz and Quijote Films after ‘Lina de Lima’; one of the most challenging movies we ever made. Maria Paz proved to be an extremely skilled director and up to the challenge,” said Juarez Allen.

“’Morir de Pie’ is a daring project of psychological drama and black humor, both very challenging genres, but for which María Paz has all the necessary skills to lead,” noted Nasi.

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