‘Roma''s Marina de Tavira Attached to Star in ‘House Eight,' From Brenda Navarro, High-Flying Mexican Outfit Mandarina Cine (EXCLUSIVE)
In further casting news, Verónica Bravo, nominated for a 2023 best actress Canacine Prize for 'Sobreviviendo Mis XV,' is also attached to take a key cast role in the series.
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Currently in development and reaching out for international production partners, 'House Eight' is set up at high-flying Mexican production outfit Mandarina Cine, this year a global SXSW Audience Award winner for 'Corina,' now nominated for eight Mexican Academy Ariel Awards.
Mandarina also produced 'The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box),' the first best film winner at the inaugural Berlinale Perspectives section, reserved for first-time movies.
'The Devil Smokes' was described by Variety as 'a childhood survival story as strange and beguiling as its title. Likewise, 'House Eight' weighs in as one of the most distinctive offerings at BAM. A psychological thriller, with fantasy or even metaphysical elements, it follows a group of terminally ill women who shelter in a clandestine house to die with dignity. They come to be faced by a disturbing reality: The Witch, their spiritual and scientific leader, has developed an experimental method that revives the dead, according to the synopsis.
When one of the dead unexpectedly revives, the community fractures, and the Witches assistant becomes their greatest enemy, unleashing an ethical and emotional struggle were accepting death or defying it will change their lives forever.
'Brenda Navarro is an indispensable voice in our literature, creator of heart-rending worlds which are personally and socially touching. I would be delighted to collaborate in this project,' said de Tavira.
'I'm utterly moved by the possibility of being part of a group of women who tell a courageous, risky, painful and honest story, all guided by one of the most exciting young voices in our country's current literature, Brenda Navarro. 'May the story be told!'
'As a narrator, Brenda Navarro has the sensibility and social conscience to allow her to write from pain, not to reproduce but dismantle it. Her arrival on the film and TV scene, with images as potent as her writing, is a natural step. At Mandarina we are honoured and happy to make this journey with her,' said Carlos Hernández Vázquez, co-founder of Mandarina Cine with Gabriel Gavica in 2018.
Bravo added that she and Hernández are looking for international alliances to produce 'House Eight,' 'a story about women with a team made up primarily of women in which the main theme is the fear to live when faced by such an unjust world, full of women which are battling to exercise a control over their decisions. 'House Eight' is a horror drama where the desire to die with dignity is punished by eternal life.'
'House Eight' won first prize in the 2024 Episode 0 section at Mexico's Guadalajara Film Festival.
Navarro was part of the 'Cometierra' series writers room. 'Empty Houses,' her first novel, was published in 10 languages. The big screen adaptation of 'Ceniza en la boca' is now in post-production, directed by Diego Luna.
Co-produced by Mandarina Cine and a first Turkey-Mexico co-production, Seyfettin Tokmak's 'Empire of the Rabbits' scooped best director in Taipei and and screenplay at Tallinn Black Nights Festival.
Marina de Tavira is represented by the Talent on the Road agency, Verónica Bravo by Lumina Management.
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