Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #179. Federico Cecchetti’s Jíkuri

Jíkuri

Mexican filmmaker Federico Cecchetti was one of the lucky half-dozen filmmakers to participate in the Cannes The Residence (32nd edition) with his sophomore project then titled “Letters from the Land of the Tarahumara” and then “Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara,” and now Jíkuri. After a long gestation period, Cecchetti landed Sylvie Testud, Olivier Rabourdin and François Négret for a meeting of the minds set in 1936 in the Tarahumara mountains backdrop type of drama. Produced by Machete, L.A.-based Amplitud and France’s Thierry Lenouvel, Cecchetti first got noticed with his Ariel Awards (Mexico’s Oscars) nominated with El Sueño del Mara’akame in 2017.

Gist: The life of Rayenari changes when the poet Antonin Artaud arrives to his village seeking the spiritual knowledge of the Tarahumara. Rayenari introduces him to the Peyote ceremony. However, the poet abandons the ritual and loses his soul. Sometime later, Rayenari discovers through dreams that Artaud has been committed to a mental hospital. It will be through this connection that Rayenari will help his friend to recover what he lost.

Release Date/Prediction: This could land at a major film fest – our money is on a run at the Golden Bear at the Berlinale.