Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #74. Fever Dream (Distancia de Rescate) – Claudia Llosa

Published on January 4, 2019

Fever Dream (Distancia de Rescate)

Peruvian director Claudia Llosa breaks a five year hiatus and returns with her fourth feature Fever Dream (Distancia de Rescate). Notably, Llosa will be the first Peruvian director of a Netflix film with this project which is being produced by Juan and Pablo Larrain through Fabula Productions as well as Oscar winner Mark Johnson (Rain Man, 1988; Bugsy, 1991; “Breaking Bad”) and Tom Williams for Gran Via Productions. Returning to South America after her 2014 English debut, Llosa will head to Argentina with her latest project. Llosa competed in Sundance with her 2006 debut Madeinusa, which also took home the FIPRESCI Prize in Rotterdam. Her 2009 sophomore film The Milk of Sorrow took home the Golden Bear in Berlin, and she also took home the Teddy for her 2012 short “Loxoro.” Llosa made her high-profile English debut with Aloft, starring Jennifer Connelly, Cillian Murphy and Melanie Laurent, which also competed in Berlin and was programmed in Sundance’s Spotlight program.

Gist: Based on the novel Distancia de Rescate by Samanta Schweblin, a ghost story about a woman named Amanda lies dying in a sleepy Argentinean town she had been vacationing in. A child named David questions her on the events leading up to her sickness.

Release Date/Prediction: Llosa is expected to go into production in Chile early 2019. Heretofore Sundance and Berlin have been the director’s main platforms. If we don’t see Fever Dream pop up in Venice or TIFF’s Platform, expect a return to Berlin 2020.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.