La Puta Vida, a new international feature film starring Colombian actor Claudio Cataño, star of Netflix’s acclaimed adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, has begun filming in Chile.
La Puta Vida, a five-country co-production led by Colombia’s Red Collision Studios and Chile’s Afro Films, will be directed by Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Araya Serrano.
Starring alongside Cataño are German Christine Neubauer, who recently starred in Daniel Alvarenga’s historical drama “Jundswat,” and Chilean actor Tamara Acosta.
Described as “an intense blend of road movie, thriller, and emotional drama set in northern Chile in 2005,” La Puta Vida follows Emma (Neubauer), a woman who discovers that she has been separated from her biological parents and raised in the infamous Colonia Dignidad cult. Determined to uncover the truth about her origins, she embarks on a journey across the Atacama Desert with Olga, a charismatic con artist on the run from Jairo (Cataño), a ruthless assassin sent to kill her and recover stolen money.
As three characters are trapped on a perilous journey through the vast wastelands of northern Chile, buried wounds, betrayals, and unexpected emotional bonds emerge against the unforgiving landscape of the world’s driest desert.
Director Sebastian Araya Serrano said, “La Puta Vida is a physical and spiritual journey of two women as they are pursued by a killer across the Atacama Desert.” “Through this extreme journey, Emma, Olga, and Jailo undergo profound changes in their identities as they face the possibility of a second chance: finding their family, ending their escape, or even choosing to stop murdering. The desert becomes a monumental blank canvas on which the characters move from emotional dryness to rebirth.”
“First of all, the setting in which the story takes place and the journey that the characters go through, both physically and mentally, I found to be a very unsettling element, so to speak. All of the characters transform and move actively. Beyond that, genres such as thrillers, westerns, and ultimately metaphysics , or rather the genre involved makes this film attractive.On a personal level, it’s the cultural exchange and the chance to work in the same region.”The Latin American context is also global and more than fulfills the purpose of expanding cultural dialogue and cinema in our language. ”
The actor added that his recent success in the award-winning García Márquez film adaptation has increased his international opportunities.
“One Hundred Years of Solitude opened the door not only for me as an actor, but also for Colombian talent more broadly as something to be exported and exchanged. This was and remains a very influential window, through which I was able to work at a very high standard, which of course has a positive effect.”
For Bogotá-based Red Collision Studios, “La Puta Vida” is one of the company’s most ambitious steps in its regional expansion, establishing itself as a key partner for productions of international scope.
“La Puta Vida” is an international co-production between Red Collision Studios, Afro Films, Germany’s Santiago Film, Uruguay’s Faro Hub and Spain’s Viringo Media. Produced by Diego Conejero, Jose Luis Campos, Alejandro Ugarte, Vanessa Gomez, and Sebastian Caballero.
“Filming La Puta Vida in Chile was a huge challenge due to its scale, multiple locations across the Atacama Desert, and the complexity of an international co-production in five countries,” the producers said. “For Red Collision Studios, it’s a source of pride to be driving this ambitious project, both narratively and logistically. It’s precisely that sense of risk and emotional depth that gives it such a strong identity and clear international potential.”
The creative team also includes cinematographer Jorge González, known for his work on David Alvara’s 2020 thriller Pacto de Fuga, and production designer Bernardita Baeza, whose recent credits include Diego Céspedes’ Cannes Prize-winning The Flamingo.
