Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has picked up international rights to David Pablos’ “On the Road” (“En El Camino”). The film, a bold, tender Mexican road movie, will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival‘s Horizons section.
“On the Road” follows Veneno, a rebellious young drifter who often sleeps with truck drivers by roadside diners. While in urgent need of a ride, he meets Muñeco, a private, hard-edged driver. Veneno convinces Muñeco to take him deep into the hyper-masculine world of long-haul trucking across the north of Mexico. As they travel together and an unexpected intimacy builds between them, shadows from Veneno’s past resurface, putting both their lives at risk. The film stars newcomer Victor Miguel Prieto and Osvaldo Sánchez (“Pedro Páramo”).
Pablos is known for films such as “Dance of the 41” and “The Chosen Ones,” both produced by Pablo Cruz, as well as directing the first four episodes of Amazon’s Western series “The Head of Joaquín Murrieta.” “The Chosen Ones” played major festivals such as Cannes’s Un Certain Regard and San Sebastián’s Horizontes Latinos, going on to land a Spanish Academy Goya Award nomination for Best Ibero-American Film.
The director highlights the “heteronormative, hyper-masculine” settings of “On the Road,” a film that “explores the protagonists’ struggle to express their emotions, shaped by a culture of machismo that affects both their social and intimate lives.”
“I was drawn to the idea of telling a story infused with homoeroticism within the world of truckers, where their unique adventures, the visual allure of that environment, and its brutality are shown — but also the warmth found in the brotherhood that emerges among men on the road,” added Pablos. “I think it’s a fitting setting to talk about masculinity and suppression through Veneno and Muñeco — the two leads — broken characters who, against all odds, find refuge in each other.”
Pablos added he is “delighted” to be working “hand-in-hand” with M-Appeal. “Not only because they strongly connect with the film (and believe in it), but also because they know how to position queer themed films and pay detailed attention to every part of the working process.”
Producer Inna Payán added: “The film pays tribute to those workers we often see only as obstacles on the road — the truckers we pass by every day but rarely think about, their lives, or their struggles. Men with desires, loves, pain, and worries. This is a story of two lonely souls who find each other and fall in love in a hostile landscape.”
Maren Kroymann, managing director of M-Appeal, said it “fell in love” with this “untypical love story” as well as “its tenderness, stunning cinematography, and deeply human protagonists.” “We’re thrilled to collaborate with David Pablos and the production team, whose resilience and sensitivity shine through every frame.”
“On the Road” is produced by Payan’s Animal de Luz (“La Jaula de Oro”) in co-production with La Corriente del Golfo, headed by Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, The Maestros Cine, EFD Studios, Terminal Films and Producciones Año Bisiesto.
Producers include Payan, Luis Salinas, Luna and Enrique Nava. The film was produced through the Mexican tax incentive Eficine.
variety.com
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