Siberia
It’s been a long, hard road, but it looks like 2020 may finally be the year we’ll see Abel Ferrara’s Siberia, a film he initially tried to secure funding for through Kickstarter in 2015. Several documentary projects later and another feature, 2019’s Tommaso, which starred Willem Dafoe and premiered at Cannes out of competition, it appears his latest is complete. In 2018, he secured funding in May of 2018 courtesy of Italian indie company Vivo Film (headed by Marta Donzelli and Gregorio Paonessa , also responsible for Nico, 1988) and German production company Maze Pictures through German producers Phillip Kreuzer and Jorge Schulze. Just this November, Mexico City production-distribution house Piano also joined as producers with Match Factory owning international rights. Ferrara confirmed production was complete during his press tour at Cannes with a shoot which lensed in Italy, Germany and Mexico. At one point Isabelle Huppert and Nicolas Cage has been rumored to be attached, but it seems Dafoe will be performing as multiple characters instead. Prior to Tommaso, Ferrara’s last narrative features were Pasolini (read review) and Welcome to New York, both 2014. Ferrara has been in the Cannes competition once (1993’s Body Snatchers), with 2001’s ‘R Xmas playing in Un Certain Regard, but has competed six times for Venice’s Golden Lion (Snake Eyes, 1993; The Funeral, 1996; New Rose Hotel, 1998; Mary, 2005; 4:44 Last Day on Earth, (read review) 2011; Pasolini, 2014), winning the Special Jury Prize in 2005 for the Juliette Binoche headliner Mary.
Gist: Although loosely inspired by Carl Jung’s The Red Book, Ferrara’s Siberia is said to be about a spiritual odyssey of a man (Dafoe) seeking redemption, journeying across “frozen tundras, ancestral forests and endless sea dunes.”
Release Date/Prediction: Considering the labor of love that is Siberia, we assume Ferrara will be competing for the seventh time in Venice based on main producer Vivo Film, as well as that platform’s continual support of the filmmaker.
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