Publish date: 2024-09-19

Former Pimienta Films executive producer Paulina Valencia has boarded coming-of-age drama “The Weird” (“Lo Raro”), the debut feature of Nicolasa Ruiz, whose most recent short, “Extinction of the Species,” which she co-directed with Matt Porterfield, participated in Cannes’ Critics Week this year.

Valencia joins Chile’s Matías de Bourguignon of Cordyceps Content, a producer of “The Dog Thief,” directed by Chile’s Vinko Tomicic and sold by Luxbox, which competes in the Santiago Film Festival’s (Sanfic) international section. Set in La Paz, Bolivia, it stars Alfredo Castro (“El Conde”) as a lonely tailor, Señor Novoa, whose dog is stolen by a 15-year-old shoe shiner who imagines Sr. Novoa to be his father.

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Mexicali-set “The Weird” follows Consuelo, a shy teenage nerd with a deep passion for technology who has built Alita, a robot pet driven by artificial intelligence. Her love for science and robotics is matched only by her growing crush on Ángel, the new girl at school who also happens to be a popular video game streamer.

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Said Ruiz: “Mexicali is where I grew up and formed my earliest ideas about cinema. The city’s surreal landscape, extreme temperatures, and proximity to the U.S. deeply influenced me, especially through science fiction and horror films. This story is important because it explores the vulnerability of being a tech-savvy, introverted teenager in a city with few outlets. The internet has become a crucial tool for connection, a space filled with both opportunity and uncertainty. I want to capture that sensation of being watched and the tension of navigating social networks, a feeling that has never left me.”

For Valencia, working with Ruiz is “witnessing someone who pours her heart and soul into her craft,” adding: “Her previous works have been well-received because of the rawness and sensitivity in her autobiographical storytelling, which sparks meaningful conversations.”

“’The Weird’ will undoubtedly be a film that reflects the growth and development that Nicolasa has undergone, leading the project to where it is today, following her experiences in various platforms and residencies,” said Valencia, who worked closely with Nicolas Celis of Pimienta Films (“Roma,” “Emilia Perez”) before striking out on her own to co-found Kintsugi Cine and serve as director of MFC Madrefoca Cine. She is known for producing the acclaimed feature film “Navajazo” (2014), winner of the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival.

Now being written by Ruiz, the project’s development journey has taken it through Meet Mart Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund, Catapulta FICUNAM, Berlinale Talents Guadalajara Edition/Guion FICG, Cine Qua Non Lab and The Write Retreat Mallorca, among others.

Said Bourguignon: “Nico and Paulina are everything that is right with new Latin American cinema. Women who have unique stories and perspectives that have not been commonly represented in film. They have opened up a space for me to contribute creatively to a project, where they value my outsider perspective as a reference for how to write a story that, while depicting life in the rural north of Mexico, poses questions and delivers a message that is undoubtedly relevant to Latin realities across the continent.”

“Cordyceps was borne as a response to my relentless questioning of how I can contribute to the social discourse on relevant issues that shape us as a society,” he continued, adding: “In Nicolasa, I found a director who shared my existential questions about the how and why of life. Especially in the current context of humanity vs. technology or is it humanity & technology? How do we progress as a society in harmony with artificial intelligence? Nicolasa has developed the technical and mental capacities to address these questions and offer a decentralized and fresh perspective.”

Tomicic’s “The Dog Thief” premiered at Tribeca this year before hitting the festival circuit, including Guadalajara, Costa Rica, Munich and Lima, where it won the Special Jury Prize.

Cordyceps has three Tomicic projects in the pipeline, Bourguignon told Variety. These are two series, one about the current urban music scene in Chile and another about the construction of the Carretera Austral (Patagonia) during the dictatorship. “Both projects are interesting social portraits from different eras,” noted Bourguignon, who added that Tomicic is prepping a short that will be a proof of concept for his next feature film, to be shot in Northern Chile and will be a new collaboration between Tomicic and acclaimed DP Sergio Armstrong (“No,” “La Jauria” “Neruda”).

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