GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Mexico’s Emilio Maille, whose visually arresting docu “Sky Poets” competes in Guadalajara’s Premio Mezcal section, is gearing up to make only the second fiction film of his career, “Yesterday’s Dream” (“El Sueño de Ayer”). Maille is best known for his breakout drama, “Rosario Tijeras,” a 2005 box office hit based on the eponymous Colombian bestseller by Jorge Franco Ramos.
“Sky Poets” co-producer Monica Lozano of Alebrije Prods. and Maille’s producing partner Gustavo Angel serve as producers of the musical drama inspired by the late Cuban mambo king Damaso Perez Prado, hailed as the Tropical Glenn Miller of his time. Damian Alcazar (“Ms. Bala,” 2019) is attached to play Prado opposite Spanish modern flamenco sensation, Rosalia, who plays his love interest.
In “Yesterday’s Dream,” Prado wakes up in 2019 from what he thinks his death of some 30 years ago was just a strange dream. He seeks out the love of his life, Magdalena, in a bid to revive their lost romance. In his search, he meets young Lazaro who guides him through a much-changed Mexico City but where its music and its night life are still as vibrant as ever.
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Maille plans to create an imaginary Mexico City, a tropical “Moulin Rouge” if you will, where music and dance play a big part. While Maille has made a lot of documentaries since “Rosario Tijeras,” he doesn’t see that big a difference. “They are two sides of a coin; they achieve the same goal, which is to tell a story.”
“We’re planning to film in the Fall and are aiming for it to open in Mexico by late next year after a festival run,” said Lozano, who noted that various distributors are interested.
Maille is also set to direct/showrun a TV series produced by Lozano and her Alebrije Prods. partner, Eamon O’Farrill. Lozano describes the 25-episode “Barbara’s Sins” (“Los Pecados de Barbara”) as “a comedy series with a tragic touch.”
Diana Bovio (“The Kids are Back”) plays an irreverent Barbara who goes home to her village after a 19-year absence and decides to upend the staid female-dominated pueblo by opening a strip club for women. To be shot on location in Huichapan, Hidalgo and Mexico City, “Barbara’s Sins” will air on Univision on July 15 to be followed by its broadcast on Televisa.
Alebrije Prods., which has both “Sky Poets” and Alvaro Curiel’s drama “Marioneta” world premiering in Guadalajara’s Premio Mezcal section, is also in post on Maria Torres’ autism-musical drama “Conoces a Tomas?” (“Do You Know Tomas?”) slated to open in the summer.