Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2016: #17. Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Aquarius

Published on January 13, 2016

Aquarius

Director: Kleber Mendonca Filho
Writer: Kleber Mendoca Filho

We’ve been patiently awaiting for the sophomore effort from Brazilian director Kleber Mendonca Filho ever since his excellent 2012 debut, Neighboring Sounds, which premiered at Rotterdam and went on to sweep up a number of awards and nominations during its festival run. He’s been developing two projects at the same time, both with elements of science fiction. While Bacurau will film next, Filho is finally in post-production on Aquarius, which concerns the 65-year-old Clara (Sonia Braga), a retired music writer and critic, widowed and alone in the apartment building Aquarius after her three grown children have moved away. Oh, and she’s mastered the gift of time travel.

Cast: Sonia Braga, Jeff Rosick, Irandhir Santos, Maeve Jinkings

Production Co.: CinemaScopio Producoes, SBS Productions

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). TBD (international).

Release Date: Reportedly, Filho has hundreds of hours of footage to edit in post-production, which means he might not be prepared for Cannes—but whenever he’s ready, this will likely be a notable competition title either there or Venice.

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.