Alfredo Castro Starring ‘After Elena,’ by Shawn Garry, Boarded by Colombia’s Doc:Co, MeikinCine (EXCLUSIVE)
- Colombia’s Doc:Co is set to co-produce “After Elena,” a tragicomedy marking Alfredo Castro’s return to dark comedy, with production scheduled for 2025.
UPDATED: Colombia's Doc:Co is set to co-produce "After Elena," headed by one of Latin America's foremost of actors, Alfredo Castro, whose turns in "Tony Manero," "No" and "The Club" helped Pablo Larraín lift off as an international filmmaker. Buenos Aires-based sales agency MeikinCine also joined the film at the development stage.
Moved at Berlin by Gabriela Sandoval, who produced out of her label Cine Matriz and Storyboard Media, where she teams with Carlos Núñez, "After Elena" also marks the awaited sophomore feature of Chilean director-producer Shawn Garry after he impressed with his debut, festival hit "Desierto Sur."
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Garry's own label Creative Content also produces along with Italian co-producer Zoe Films, which was at Venice Days in 2024 with "Vittoria," from directing duo Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman and co-produced by Nanni Moretti's Sacher Film.
"After Elena" is described by Sandoval as a tragicomedy marking Castro's return to dark comedy. Production is scheduled for 2025, Sandoval told Variety .
"As a production company, we have developed fiction and documentary films with a strong focus on politics, society and real events-based stories. That's why, when Shawn proposed to us to work together on 'After Elena,' we were attracted by the possibility of addressing themes such as old age, death, grief and family trauma, but from a different perspective: not as a conventional drama, but through dark humor and absurdity as a narrative vehicle," Cine Matriz's Sandoval added.
Garry not only directs but also co-writes, with Carla Stagno as script supervisor. "Historia y Geografía's" Bernardo Quesney also forms part of the scriptwriters team.
"We are very happy to inaugurate our line of minority co-productions with Latin America with a film as fascinating as 'After Elena,' a prestigious cast led by Alfredo Castro and with important partners such as Cine Matriz, Storyboard Media and Doc:Co," said Zoe Films' Giorgio Giampa and Lorenzo Cioffi.
Boarding "After Elena," Doc:Co has moved into production, after it launched international sales at 2023's Ventana Sur with "Otra Piel," also backed by Cine Matriz.
"This new line of work will allow us to harness and apply all the knowledge and experience we have accumulated over these years. We firmly believe that 'After Elena' will not only resonate, but strike a chord with global audiences, who are eager to see films they can relate to and feel genuinely connected to," said Doc:Co director, Consuelo Castillo.
"We think it is a powerful, emotional and family-oriented project with a first-class cast and a top-notch production team with whom we have been working for years," said MeikinCine director, Lucía Meik.
"We are excited by the challenge of joining the development of this project to find the best path and international partners," she added.
Doc:Co successes in domestic distribution in Colombia take in "Amparo" by Simón Mesa Soto, produced by Ocúltimo; "Alis," by Clare Weiskopft and Nicolás van Hemelryck, produced by Casa Tarántula; and "Un Varón" by Fabián Hernández and Colombia's entry in the Oscar race, produced by Medio de Contención.
Sandoval also serves as head of industry for the Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic).
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