Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #51. The Box – Lorenzo Vigas

Published on January 4, 2019

The Box

Lorenzo Vigas should finally be ready with his long-gestating sophomore feature The Box, which is meant to conclude his paternity-themed trilogy which began with his 2004 short film “Elephants Never Forget” and continued with 2014’s From Afar (read ★★★★ review). Vigas is producing alongside Lucia Film’s Michel Franco and Jorge Hernandez Aldana. The title is being executive produced by Los Angeles based Ivanhoe Pictures. The film stars Hernan Mendoza of Franco’s 2012 title After Lucia alongside newcomer Hatzin Oscar Navarrete. Lorenzo’s debut From Afar took home the Golden Lion from the 2014 Venice Film Festival, making him the first Venezuelan director to hold this distinction. His 2016 documentary The Orchid Seller also premiered out of Venice.

Gist: The Box, co-written by Vigas and Argentinean filmmaker Paul Markovitch, is the story of a young buy on a mission to collect what he believes to be his father’s remains only to get sucked into the underbelly of the migrant industry in Mexico.

Release Date/Prediction: Vigas shot The Box in Chihuahua, Mexico in April of 2018. As a previous Golden Lion winner, we’d expect producers to be vying for a competition slot in either Berlin or Cannes.

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.