Pablo Trapero’s ‘Malinche’ Set for Spain’s Morena Films, Mexico’s Talipot Studio (EXCLUSIVE)
Mexico’s Talipot Studio, a co-producer on Ruben ?stlund’s triple Oscar nominee “Triangle of Sadness,” has boarded “Malinche,” a historical epic produced by Spain’s Morena Films and directed by Pablo Trapero (“The Clan,” “ZeroZeroZero”).
Prestigious Mexican historian Enrique Krauze also produces.
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Shaping up as one of the biggest movies from the Spanish-speaking world this year, “Malinche” is written by Trapero and Daniel Krauze, a writer on “Luis Miguel: The Series.”
It could be described as a conquistador epic, set in 1519 as Hernán Cortes’ troops are supposedly welcomed by Aztec lord Moctezuma in Tenochtitlan. It centers, however, on the figure of Malinche, Cortés’ interpreter and consort who bore him a son.
In the film, Malinche, regarded as a pivotal figure in Spain’s conquest, so a traitor to Mexico, is seen in a new light as a woman battling to maintain peace between the Aztec and Spanish empires.
“For a few months, it seemed like the Spanish and the Aztecs could collaborate. There were negotiations. And that’s when our story takes place,” Morena’s álvaro Longoria said. “The Malinche of popular imagination is far from the truth.”
“This is one of the most emblematic moments of [Mexican] history seen from a daring viewpoint,” added Regina Solórzano, CEO of Talipot Studio.
“‘Malinche’ goes back to a decisive period of history that changed the life and narrative of Mexico as a nation,” she added.
“It will approach it from a completely different perspective, a feminine perspective, caught between two patriarchal systems, the Aztec civilization and the Spanish Empire, in a story which also reflects on the human condition.”
“Malinche” will be financed via Spain’s muscular tax credits plus co-production, said Longoria. Spanish TV sales will be confirmed “very soon,” he added, which, along with Mexican co-production coin, completes “Malinche” financing.
Rising to 60% of investment in the Basque Country Bizkaia and in the Canary Islands, tax credits allow producers to cover a significant part of a budget via soft moneys, reducing exposure to risk and allowing for films of considerable scale.
“We have the opportunity to work with Morena Films, one if not the No. 1 company in the Spanish film industry. We have a great story in this case, that of Malinche, and we fell in love with the screenplay of Daniel Krauze and Pablo Trapero,” said Solórzano.
“The film portrays a woman that that was way beyond her time,” added Longoria. “At that time, very, very few women had the power she attained. Her’s was a hugely complicated position, trapped in an extremely violent world of men and being the hinge, the sole intermediary, between two clashing civilizations whose only contact and negotiations all went through her. So she had to decide how to use that power.”
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