Music Box Films Acquires Thriller-Satire Film “Medusa,” Starring Mari Oliveira

Mari Oliveira will be thrilling audiences in North America…

Music Box Films has acquired North American rights to Medusathe well-received thriller-satire starring the Latina actress.

Mari Oliveira, MedusaHailing from Brazilian writer and director Anita Rocha da Silveira. Medusa follows Mariana (Oliveira), a 21-year-old who belongs to a world where she must do her utmost to keep up the appearance of a perfect woman. In order to resist temptation, she and her girlfriends try their best to control everything and everyone around them. And that includes the town sinners. At night, their girl squad put on masks, hunt and beat up all women who have deviated from the right path. However, the day will come when the urge to scream will be stronger than it ever has been.

The social and political critique, which touches on themes of sexual liberation, violence, and religious fixation in Brazil, marks a follow-up to the filmmaker’s debut feature, Kill Me Please.

The feature debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight strand before getting its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

Box Films is aiming to release the film theatrically in the summer of 2022 with a home entertainment plan to follow.

Medusa’s bold commentary on social and political trends in Brazil will resonate with US audiences who can recognize the disturbing parallels in this country,” commented Brian Andreotti, Head of Acquisitions at Music Box Films. “Anita is an exciting filmmaker with a wholly original voice, and we are excited to bring her provocative and aesthetically striking film to a wider audience.”

“We are thrilled to work for the first time with Music Box Films,” added Martin Gondre, Head of Sales & Acquisitions at Best Friend Forever. “We couldn’t find a better home for Anita’s stylish, topical, and striking second feature.”

Music Box Films to Release Pablo Larraín’s “Ema” in U.S. Theaters Next Summer

Pablo Larraín latest film is headed to the U.S.

Music Box Filmshas acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the 43-year-old Chilean filmmaker’s Venice Film Festival drama Ema, starring newcomer Mariana Di GirolamoGael García Bernaland Santiago Cabrera.

Pablo Larraín

Music Box plans to release the Sundance Film Festival-bound drama in theaters in summer 2020. 

Ema charts a woman’s odyssey of personal liberation after a shocking incident upends her family life and marriage to a tempestuous choreographer.

“I feel proud and excited to be working again with Music Box Films, a wonderful company for a movie like Emain the USA,” said feted Chilean director Larraín. “It’s truly amazing.” 

The distributor previously released Larrain’s 2015 film The Club.

“This is one of those films that you have to see to believe,” added Music Box Films’ president William Schopf. “Entirely singular, hypnotic, and compelling, it’s a film that absolutely seduces the senses.”

Emamarks the third collaboration between Larraín and García Bernal, after they previously worked together on No(2012) and Neruda(2016).

Music Box Films Acquires Distribution Rights for the Chavela Vargas Documentary “Chavela”

The life of Chavela Vargas will be hitting the big screen later this year…

Music Box Films has secured distribution rights to Chavela, the documentary on the late Costa Rican-born Mexican singer-songwriter, who was known as “la voz áspera de la ternura,” the rough voice of tenderness.

Chavela Vargas

Directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi, the documentary features interviews and performance footage from the late singer, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 93. According her official Facebook page, her last words were “I leave with Mexico in my heart.”

Music Box, who has rights in all platforms in the U.S., will release the film theatrically in October.

Chavela Vargas

The documentary premiered to critical acclaim at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

Vargas, the muse to Oscar winning filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Recording Academy at the Latin Grammys in 2007.