Paulina Valencia, former executive producer of Pimienta Films, has joined the cast of the upcoming drama “The Weird” (“Lo Raro”), the feature debut of director Nicolasa Ruiz, whose last short film “Extinction of the Species,” co-directed with Matt Porterfield, premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week last year.
Valencia joins Cordyceps Content’s Matías de Bourguignon, who is co-producing “Boliviana,” directed by Chilean Vinco Tomicic and sold by Luxbox, which is competing in the international section of the Santiago Film Festival (Sanfic). Set in La Paz, Bolivia, the film stars Alfredo Castro (El Conde) as a lonely tailor, Mr. Novoa, whose dog is stolen by a 15-year-old shoe shiner who imagines Mr. Novoa is his father.
Set in the city of Mexicali, The Weird follows Consuelo, a shy, tech-obsessed girl with a deep passion for technology, who builds Alita, an artificially intelligent robot pet. Her love of science and robotics is matched only by her growing crush on Angel, the new girl in school who also happens to be a video gamer.
“Mexicali is where I grew up and where my first ideas about cinema were formed,” Ruiz said. “The city’s surreal landscapes, extreme temperatures, and proximity to the United States have greatly influenced me, especially through sci-fi and horror films. This story is important because it explores the vulnerability of being an introverted, tech-savvy teenager in a city with few outlets. The internet has become an essential tool for communication, a space full of opportunity and uncertainty. I want to capture that feeling of being watched and the tension of navigating social networks, a feeling that has never left me.”
For Valencia, working with Ruiz is “watching someone pour their heart and soul into their craft,” adding, “Her previous works have been well received for the rawness and sensitivity of her autobiographical storytelling, which sparks meaningful conversations.”
“There is no doubt that The Weird will be a film that reflects the growth and development that Nicolasa has gone through, leading the project to where it is today, after her experiences in different platforms and residencies,” said Valencia, who worked closely with Nicolas Celis of Pimienta Films (“Roma,” “Emilia Perez”) before striking out on her own to found Kintsugi Cine and serve as director of MFC Madrefoca Cine. She is best known for producing the acclaimed feature film “Navajazo” (2014), winner of the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival.
Ruiz is currently writing the project, and its development journey has included Meet Mart Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund, Catapulta FICUNAM, Berlinale Talents Guadalajara Edition/Guion FICG, Cine Qua Non Lab, The Write Retreat Mallorca, and others.
Happy Bourguignon: “Nico and Paulina are everything that is right about new Latin American cinema. They are two women with unique stories and perspectives that are not commonly represented in films. They opened up a space for me to contribute creatively to a project, valuing my outsider perspective as a reference for how to write a story that depicts life in rural northern Mexico, asks questions and conveys a message that is undoubtedly relevant to Latino reality across the continent.”
“The idea for Cordyceps was born as a response to my ongoing questions about how to contribute to the social discourse on relevant issues that shape us as a society,” he continued. “In Nicolas, I found an outlet that shared my existential questions about how and why to live. Especially in the current context of humanity versus technology or is it humanity versus technology? How do we advance as a society in harmony with artificial intelligence? Nicolas has developed the technical and mental capabilities to address these questions and offer a new, decentralized perspective.”
In other news, Vinko Tomic's “El Ladrón de Perros” premiered at this year's Tribeca Film Festival before playing at several festivals, including Guadalajara, Costa Rica, Munich and Lima, where it won the Special Jury Prize.
Bourguignon said Cordyceps has three projects in the pipeline for Tomesic. diverse. “These two series, one about the current urban music scene in Chile and the other about the construction of the Carretera Austral (Patagonia) during the dictatorship,” Bourguignon noted. “Both projects are interesting social portraits from different eras,” he added, adding that Tomichek is preparing a short film that will serve as a proof of concept for his next feature film, which will be shot in northern Chile and will be a new collaboration between Tomichek and renowned cinematographer Sergio Armstrong (“La,” “La Goria,” “Neruda”).
