In another partnership between European and Latin American producers at Cannes, France’s Lilith Films has joined the Chilean drama “Una mujer quiere morir”. The drama is a co-production with the participation of Chile (Niña Niño Films), Argentina (Guaricho Cine) and Brazil (Superfilms).
The film stars Paulina García (Gloria), one of Chile’s most bankable stars, who recently announced her feature directorial debut at Cannes. Singer and actress Dindi Jane plays her opposite.
Constanza Figari will direct from a script she wrote, which she says is tied to her teenage fantasies about committing suicide.
“I started writing this script at a time when I was still deeply connected to my adolescent fantasies of wanting to die, and seeing suicide as the rawest, most nihilistic expression of freedom as I understood it,” she told Variety.
“Today, several years later, my wife and I have had a child and I am once again questioning my freedom, especially when it comes to ending my life. Since then, these two perspectives have been contradictory for me, and I have turned this project into a deep conversation between a mother and a daughter, which is me.”
“That eternal contradiction, the remote possibility of encounter and understanding, was always the driving force behind this film,” she added.
The film follows Fernanda (33), who has a death wish. Her reasons are not clear, but her mother Susana does everything in her power to stop her. She takes Fernanda to the beach house for close observation, where she must decide whether to betray her daughter or honor her wish to die on her own terms.
Roberto Dobellis’ Niña Niño Films developed the dark comedy, which is consistent with the company’s focus on strong writers and LGBTQ+ themed projects.
Doveris said he recently met with Lillis Films’ Caroline Piras at the Marché du Film, where they agreed to co-produce A Woman Wants to Die.
“We first met at the Paris-Uruguayan co-production conference at the Faro Jose Ignacio Film Festival (Uruguay) and have been talking ever since,” he said. Lilith Films’ credits include Danes Nagy’s World War II drama “Natural Light.”
“At Niña Niño Films, we like to work with female directors and members of the LGBTQ+ community, which is why we approached Constanza, who had already shown a fully mature and bold vision of pregnancy and abortion in her first film, 7 Weeks,” Doveris said.
“At the same time, we were attracted by the possibility of creating a dark comedy about suicide, reflecting freedom and death. The moment we realized that the main character had to be a mother, we thought of Paulina García, an extraordinary actress who can straddle the line between drama and comedy. This is the film’s biggest challenge.”
Niña Niño Films is also developing the fiction series Tough Skin (Cuero de Chancho), directed by Alicia Schelson (The Future, Prey), from a script by Enrique Videla, Francina Carbonell and Ignacio Djuricic.
The project is supported by CNTV (Chilean National Television Council) and is led by showrunner Valentina Mur.
Inspired by true events from the 1990s, the film follows a tenacious female detective who infiltrates a brothel where a murder takes place while tracking down a lesbian murderer who disguises herself as a man to avoid detection.
“A Woman Wants to Die” is supported by the Chilean Film Fund, Ibermedia and Brazil’s Uncinet.
“A Woman Wants to Die” by Niña Niño Films
