Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2017: #21. Kleber Mendonca Filho & Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau (Nighthawk)

Bacurau (Nighthawk)

Director: Kleber Mendonca Filho & Juliano Dornelles
Writer: Kleber Mendonca Filho & Juliano Dornelles

Brazilian film critic turned director Kleber Mendonca Filho has become a major international figure following his 2012 debut Neighboring Sounds and his even more widely acclaimed sophomore film Aquarius, which starred Sonia Braga and played in the Cannes main comp in 2016. After considerable controversy in Brazil (which resulted in the film being one of several acclaimed titles bypassed for the country’s submission for Best Foreign Language film in the US), Filho announced he was moving forward with a project he had scripted around the same time as his last film, Bacurau (aka Nighthawk), described as a dramatic horror film about a documentary filmmaker who travels to a remote Brazilian village only to discover the locals harbor some dark secrets. Filho co-directs with Juliano Dornelles, the production designer of his first two films, while Dornelles also released his own directorial debut, The Atelier of Brum Street in 2016.

Cast: TBA

Production Co./Producer(s): Emilie Lesclaux, CinemaScopio Producoes, Simio Filmes

U.S. Distributor: Rights available.

Release Date: Recently, a piece in Variety mentioned Filho’s latest was “in the can” and he himself mentioned several times the project was scheduled for production in fall of 2016. Although major cast members haven’t been announced (we’d be surprised if Maeve Jinkings, who appeared in his previous features, wasn’t included), it would appear Filho and Dornelles would be ready to present the title in 2017, although an invitation back to the main competition at Cannes might be difficult, this could appear in Un Certain Regard, Directors’ Fortnight, or perhaps turn up later in Venice.

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