Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #3. Nighthawk (Bacurau) – Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles

Published on January 8, 2019

Nighthawk (Bacurau)

Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho returns with his third feature, Nighthawk (aka Bacurau), recruiting his previous production designer Juliano Dornelles as co-director. Filho became an instant international voice of note with his 2012 debut Neighboring Sounds, which took home the FIPRESCI prize following its premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival. His 2016 sophomore film Aquarius, produced by Said Ben Said and Michel Merkt (as well as Emilie Lesclaux, who produced his first two feature), gave the iconic Sonia Braga one of the most notable highlights of her career and competed in the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Filho returns to work with Said and Merkt as producers and Braga as his star for his latest, which was a project he began developing around the same time as Aquarius. Described as a sinister genre piece, Braga is joined by auteur favorite Udo Kier

Gist: Filho and Dornelles penned the script for Nighthawk, which involves a filmmaker visiting the interiors of Brazil to film a documentary. However, when a small village loses their eldest matriarch, the 144 year old Dona Carmelita, strange things begin to happen amongst the villagers, who appear to be harboring troubling secrets.

Release Date/Prediction: Filming took place in spring of 2018 and Filho was reported as editing around May. Considering the influence of Said and Merkt, chances are high for Filho & Dornelles taking a slot in the Cannes competition. However, considering the potential length of time in post-production, Berlin might also be a potential premiere for the duo.

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.