17/03/2016 - The Paris-based outfit has wrapped the shoot for Alireza Khatami’s film in Chile and has O Ornitólogo by Joao Pedro Rodrigues in post-production

Director Alireza Khatami

The final “cut!” will be shouted on Saturday 19 March on the set of the feature debut by Iranian filmmaker in exile Alireza Khatami, entitled Oblivion Verses [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alireza Khatami
film profile]. The director, who took part in the Cannes Film Festival Cinéfondation residence in 2012, and whose film is being executive-produced by Paris-based company House on Fire, has been hard at work since 22 February in Santiago and Valparaíso, Chile, with a cast including Spaniards Juan Margallo (well known for his work in theatre and who made a splash on the big screen in such movies as Solitary Fragments [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Manuel Moron (Pellet, Cell 211 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniel Monzón
film profile]), Itziar Aizpuru (very popular in For 80 Days [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Flowers [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Tomas Del Estal. We should also point out that DoP Antoine Héberlé (winner of the Vulcan Award at Cannes in 2013 for Grigris [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and who also made a name for himself with such movies as Paradise Now [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Mademoiselle Chambon [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and A Few Hours of Spring [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) is on board the film.

Written by Alireza Khatami, Dominique Welinski and Chile’s René Ballesteros, the story is set in a South American country in 2009 and starts off in a vast cemetery on the outskirts of the city. At the very end of this cemetery stands the morgue for the destitute. A member of staff at the undertaker’s, who is just about to turn 70, remembers every single detail from his life, apart from people’s names. A group of militiamen turn up to get rid of a number of bodies of civilians killed during the protests. After they have left, the employee discovers the forgotten body of a young woman killed by a bullet to the throat. He will ask for help from his gravedigger friend and an old lady in search of her missing daughter, to ensure a proper burial for the young woman before the militia return.

Produced by Vincent Wang, Fred Bellaiche and Dominique Welinski for House on Fire, Oblivion Verses is being co-produced by German outfit Endorphine Production, Dutch company Lemming and Chile’s Don Quijote Films, with support from Eurimages, the CNC’s world cinema support, the Gan Foundation, Media Développement, the Berlin Talent Campus and the Hubert Bals Fund. The film’s sales will be headed by Urban Distribution International.

House on Fire also has O Ornitólogo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: João Pedro Rodrigues
film profile] by João Pedro Rodrigues (read the article – toplined by French actor Paul Hamy – a minority French co-production with Portugal and Brazil – supported by the CNC’s world cinema support and the development fund for Franco-Portuguese co-productions) and The Road to Mandalay [+see also:
trailer
interview: Midi Z
film profile] by Midi Z (a co-production with Taiwan) in post-production. And titles standing out in the recent filmography of the Paris-based firm include Portrait of the Artist [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by French director Antoine Barraud (Berlinale Forum in 2015), Peace to Us in Our Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sharunas Bartas
film profile] by Lithuania’s Sharunas Bartas (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2015) and Underground Fragrance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pengfei
film profile] by China’s Peng Fei (Venice Days 2015).

(Translated from French)