Moscas

[BluBonnet]

Michel Franco, ‘Olmo’ Director Fernando Eimbcke Reteam for Mexico City-Set Feature ‘Moscas’

Hot off his searing social indictment “Dreams,” Michel Franco will next produce “Moscas” (“Flies”) for director Fernando Eimbcke.

Now finishing pre-production, with cameras set to roll next month, the project follows an 8-year-old boy and a middle-aged woman as they crisscross contemporary Mexico City. Eimbcke wrote the script with frequent collaborator Vanesa Garnica, and will produce alongside Franco and Eréndira Núñez Larios through their respective Kinotitlán and Teorema banners.

“I’ve known Michel for a long time,” says Eimbcke. “We started out together, making shorts three decades ago, and I’ve learned a lot from him. Our work is very different – and l love that — so after not making a film for 10 years, I wanted to ask how to be more prolific!”

In 2004, Eimbcke broke out of Cannes’ Critics Week with his feature debut, “Duck Season.” Shot in black and white, and set entirely within a Mexico City apartment, the film received widespread critical and festival acclaim, prompting Alfonso Cuarón to partner with Warner Independent Pictures to release the film stateside. Eimbcke’s follow-up, “Lake Tahoe,” won both the Alfred Bauer prize and the Fipresci prize out of Berlin in 2008, and his third feature, “Club Sandwich,” premiered in Toronto before winning top honors at San Sebastián in 2013.

After a decade of development and screenwriting work, Eimbcke once again stepped behind the camera for “Olmo,” a bittersweet family comedy that premiered at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Eimbcke and Garnica co-wrote this latter film as well, while Teorema co-produced alongside Plan B Entertainment’s Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner — who gave an EFM Industry Talk at this year’s Berlinale, moderated by Variety‘s Elsa Keslassy.

Author of six novels, Garnica has also penned a number of screenplays with Eimbcke that the two are looking to get off the ground. The duo’s additional projects include “Los niños de Morelia” and “Chiqui,” while Garnica also wrote the upcoming animated feature “Casandra,” which is now in production.

Since 2019, Michel Franco and Eréndira Núñez Larios have produced more than a dozen features through their Teorema banner. Titles include Franco’s Venice-winning films “New Order” and “Memory,” as well as Franco’s latest title, “Dreams,” which premiered in competition at this year’s Berlinale. The duo have also backed work from Lorenzo Vigas, David Zonana, and, indeed, Fernando Eimbcke.