Preeminent Spanish arthouse sales outfit Bendita Film Sales (“Memories of a Burning Body”) has acquired worldwide rights to the second offbeat feature from Chilean auteurs Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña, “The Hyperboreans” (“Los Hiperbóreos”), which bows at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight program, running May 15-25.
“We’re excited to join forces with Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña, visionary filmmakers renowned for their distinct perspective and captivating universe. Their body of work has long enthralled and inspired us, making this collaboration a truly special opportunity,” Luis Renart, CEO, sales & acquisitions at Bendita Film Sales, told Variety.
“The Hyperboreans encompasses a daring fusion of live-action and stop motion, speculative fiction and fabulated biography, that takes audiences on a mesmerizing journey through realms both familiar and fantastical, exploring the haunting echoes of history and the boundless potential of the human psyche. We’re excited to share this exceptional work with audiences worldwide,” he added,
Popular on Variety
The film follows “La Jauría” star Antonia Giesen as she plays a version of herself, an actress and psychologist whose tortured patient (Francisco Visceral Rivera) is overwhelmed by the voices of a long-dead Nazi poet, Miguel Serrano. The charge scripts his encounters, and Antonia enlists creatives León & Cociña to help her bring the narrative to life, unaware that a plot to lure her further into its warped, abstract history lesson is afoot.
Produced by León & Cociña Films and Catalina Vergara at Chile’s Globo Rojo Films, who backed the duo’s freshman feature, “Wolf House,” the project tugs at morality and the metaphysical through stop-motion animation, cut-out marionettes, a roomful of props and live-action antics. Equal parts stage play, performance art and expressionist sci-fi cinematic experience, “The Hyperboreans” presents an ambitiously singular sensory overhaul.
León & Cociña have enjoyed a steady breadth of work since teaming in 2007, both filmmakers and animators with experience in installation and design; their work featured in MOMA and Tate Modern collections. In 2018, the pair released their first animated feature, “The Wolf House,” which debuted to acclaim at the Berlinale. Their recent short film, 2021 title “The Bones,” was executive produced by Ari Aster (“Beau Is Afraid”) and Adam Butterfield (“Living With Yourself”) and saw its premiere at the 78th Venice Film Festival, claiming its Orizzonti Award for best short film.
“Our work is fundamentally interdisciplinary, drawing resources from both visual arts and the worlds of film and animation,” León and Cociña explained in a statement.
Adding, “We’re interested in works that show their bones, embracing the organic, accidental, precarious, unfinished, and constantly growing in contrast to the precise, controlled, or defined. We try to imagine that everything is material and can therefore be transformed. This includes politics, history, and the unconscious. In the narratives presented here, not only do painting and other materials mix, but so do political visions, official history and dreams.”
“The Hyperboreans” was co-written by the duo alongside Alejandra Moffat; an upcoming feature project, “La Plaga,” is in the works.
