Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo’s debut solo feature “Los fuertes” has been picked up by Buenos Aires-based sales agent Meikincine which will represent the film’s rights on the international market.
“Los fuertes” is a celebratory vision of a love between a big city guy and a small town male boatswain on the Chilean coast. When romance blossoms between them, the relationship will force them to face a hostile society and find ways to mature and gain personal independence.
Zúñiga, Dominga Sotomayor and Catalina Marín are co-founders of Cinestación Producciones, the Santiago-based production outfit behind “Los fuertes” and Sotomayor’s own Locarno best director winner “Too Late to Die Young.”
Zúñiga was one of 11 directors who took on one of 11 segments chronicling Pulitzer prize-winning CK Williams’ life in 2012’s “The Color of Time.” The film featured the likes of James Franco, Mila Kunis, Jessica Chastain and Zach Braff. It is inspired by Zuñiga’s 2015 Berlin Teddy Award best short winner “San Cristobal.”
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“Los Fuertes” is financed with support from Chile’s Audiovisual Fund, received development aid from Ibermedia and is backed by the New York University Production Lab.
Lucia and Julia Meik’s boutique sales company specializes in festival friendly arthouse films which sometimes times break out to large numbers of international territories.
In December the company acquired international sales rights to two of the more mainstream Argentine propositions at last year’s Ventana Sur: Andy Caballero and Diego Corsini’s “Just Love,” and “Re Loca,” the Argentine remake of Chile’s “Sin Filtro.”
“We have known Meikincine for a few years now, and we have been aware of their great work with Latin-American films in the global market,” said producer Sotomayor, “We think that ‘Los Fuertes’ combines a very strong directorial vision with an emotional, moving and authentic love story that has the potential to reach a larger audience, and we look forward to working together in putting the film forward.”
“For us, finding the right partner in Meikincine was a great success,” echoed Zúñiga. “I felt that they were very connected to what the film is, understanding in a heartbeat what we want to do. ‘Los Fuertes’ is a love story, honest and raw, between two men trying to find their future and their place in the world, filled with intimacy and emotion.”