Leading Brazilian producer Rodrigo Teixeira of RT Features is teaming with Argentina’s Rei Pictures to produce Benjamín Naishtat’s “Glaxo.” Adapted from Hernán Ronsino’s eponymous novel, the film will star popular Argentine actor and singer Lali Espósito (“Permitidos,” “Sky Rojo”), Esteban Lamothe (“El estudiante”) and Marcelo Subiotto (“Puan”), with CAA Media Finance handling sales. Production is scheduled to begin this year in Brazil and Argentina.
The news comes as Espósito is serving on the Official Jury of the San Sebastián Film Festival, presided by J.A. Bayona.
Set in a small provincial town between the late 1950s and the 1980s, “Glaxo” tells the story of four young men whose friendship is shattered forever when a former policeman and his beautiful wife arrive in the town where the titular factory is located. The film is described as “about desire and revenge, set at a time when a whole country lost its innocence.”
Naishtat’s debut “History of Fear” premiered in competition in Berlin in 2014, with “The Movement” making its first bow at Locarno a year later. “Rojo,” his 2018 film about the months leading up to Argentina’s coup d’état, won best director, actor and cinematography at the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2018.
The director won top prizes at the festival once again five years later with “Puan,” which he co-directed with María Alché. “Puan” went on to be a hit in the Argentine box office and was ultimately acquired by Amazon, where it reached No.1 . Naishtat also recently wrote the script for Laura Casabe’s “The Virgin of the Quarry Lake,” which premiered at Sundance at the beginning of the year.
On top of “Glaxo,” Teixeira’s RT Features continues on a busy schedule following an Oscar win for Walter Salles’s history-making “I’m Still Here” earlier in the year. The label is currently in pre-production on “La Perra” by Dominga Sotomayor (“The Year of the Everlasting Storm”) and just wrapped production on James Gray’s “Paper Tiger,” starring two-time Oscar-nominee Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller. RT Features is also in post-production on Rami Kodeih’s “Wolves,” inspired by the real-life collapse of Lebanon’s banking system in 2019. The Brazilian company is also behind major indie hits such as Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name” and Noah Baumbach’s “Frances Ha.”
Acclaimed Argentinian production house Rei Pictures is known for championing major Latin American auteurs. Its slate includes a series of critically acclaimed festival hits such as Luis Ortega’s “Kill the Jockey,” Felipe Gálvez’s “The Settlers” and Lucrecia Martel’s “Zama” and “Landmarks.” “Glaxo” will mark yet another collaboration between Naishtat and Rei Pictures, which has also produced “History of Fear.” Rei Pictures announced recently an expansion, launching offices in Spain and Mexico.
Other cast includes Manu Fanego (“El amor después del amor”), Alan Sabbagh (“El rey del once”) and Esteban Bigliardi (“La Flor”). “Glaxo” is produced by Rodrigo Teixeira and Berta Marchiori for RT Features alongside Rei Pictures. The film will be co-produced by Santiago Gallelli, Benjamin Domenech and Matías Roveda.
John Hopewell contributed to this article.
variety.com
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