‘My Tender Matador’ Co-Producer Zapik Films Boards Bolivian Political Thriller ‘Family’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Chile’s Zapik Films, co-producer of “My Tender Matador” starring Alfredo Castro, has boarded the Bolivian political thriller “Family” (“Familia”) by Marcelo Landaeta, which participates in Sanfic Industria’s Santiago Fiction Lab.

Landaeta describes his debut feature as a thriller set in the late ‘70s when Bolivia is in the grip of a military dictatorship.

“It is precisely in this universe, plagued by terror and violence, when the lives of four people intersect on the eve of a coup,” Landaeta explained, who likens his script’s structure to that of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s seminal “Amores Perros” where four seemingly disparate stories are linked to one incident. He also draws on the aesthetics of Argentina’s Gaspar Noe and his irreverent and fantastical vision in “Enter the Void” as well as Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” as a visual reference for the production design of “Family.”

Prior to Sanfic Industria, the project participated in Chile’s CineLebu LAB and Encuentros BioBioCine as well as Brazil’s Mercosur Co-Production Meetings.

“I am happy with how my project has progressed so far, especially because I am a 26-year-old director from a country with a young film industry,” said Landaeta who added that he has also been invited to take his project to the upcoming International Meeting of Emerging Filmmakers in Guatemala.

Thus far, he has slated up to 11 online Sanfic meetings with potential co-producers from Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay as well as festival programmers and a sales agent.

Aside from making several notable shorts, including “Nosotros: Las Bestias,” which snagged the best fiction short film award at the 8^th Americas Film Festival in the U.S., Landaeta has worked as an assistant director to Bolivia’s Gory Patiño whose “The Goalkeeper” (“Muralla”) represented Bolivia at the 91^st Academy Awards.

Adriana Antequera of Bolivia’s Abadi Films and Jorge Lopez Vidales of Zapik Films serve as producers on “Family.”

“Family” is the only Bolivian project among a total of 15 Latin American projects participating in the Santiago Fiction Lab of Sanfic Industria, which runs thru Nov. 5.