FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES ACQUIRES LIMITED RIGHTS TO MEXICAN BOX OFFICE HIT LUCIA, LUCIA
LOS ANGELES, CA - Fox Searchlight Pictures announced today that it has acquired rights to LUCIA, LUCIA (LA HIJA DEL CANIBAL), which on January 17 became the third biggest opening ever in Mexico for a Mexican film. Based on Rosa Montero's best-selling novel of the same name, LUCIA, LUCIA was written and directed by Antonio Serrano, whose debut SEX, SHAME AND TEARS (distributed by Twentieth Century Fox) was also a smash hit in Mexico and earned him an Ariel Award(r) for Best Screenplay.
THE CANNIBAL'S DAUGHTER features Goya Award-winning actress Cecilia Roth, who has been featured in five of Pedro Almodóvar's films including most recently ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, which won the Oscar(r) for Best Foreign Film in 2000. Roth is joined on screen by novela superstar KUNO BECKER, who will next be seen in IMAGINING ARGENTINA opposite Antonio Banderas and Emma Thompson; and Carlos Álvarez-Novoa, who received a Best New Actor Goya(r) in 2000 for Benito Zambrano's SOLAS.
In LUCIA, LUCIA, a wry comedy unfolds when Lucía's (Cecila Roth) husband mysteriously disappears leaving her to discover that her life is not what it seems. In the search for her husband, Lucia finds two new friends who help her on her quest: Adrián (Kuno Becker), a charismatic 25-year-old; and Félix (Carlos Alvarez-Novoa), a seasoned veteran. Together they discover the value of friendship and passion while Lucía reinvents her life, finding a world she had forgotten, her ability to smile and her freedom.
Fox Searchlight Pictures President Peter Rice said, "LUCIA, LUCIA is part of the new wave of Mexican cinema being embraced by the U.S. market and the world. Its huge hit status in Mexico earns it a place alongside Y Tu Mama Tambien, Amores Perros, El Crime del Padre Amaro, and Antonio Serrano's own SEX, SHAME AND TEARS. Fox Searchlight recognizes the importance of bringing international voices to the U.S. as evidenced by our releasing of the UK smash hits BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM and 28 DAYS LATER, and France's well received L'AUBERGE ESPAGNOLE.
Writer/Director Antonio Serrano said, "I'm very happy that a film with such a diverse group of Hispanic talent will reach North American audiences and beyond. I attribute much of the success of the film's opening in Mexico to Fox International and look forward to continued success in other parts of the world."
LUCIA, LUCIA re-teams producers Matthias Ehrenberg and Christian Valdelièvre, (SEX, SHAME AND TEARS, VIVIR MATA), with Epigmenio Ibarra, with whom they produced LA HABITACIÓN AZUL.
Fox Searchlight has attained rights to North America, the remainder of Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan and some smaller Asian and mid-East territories. Fox Searchlight Executive Vice President Joseph de Marco and Senior Vice President of Acquisitions Tony Safford brokered the deal with the filmmaker's representatives from Traction Media's Rosanne Korenberg and Doug Stone. Claudia Lewis, Executive Vice President of Production for Fox Searchlight Pictures, will be the creative executive on the film.
Fox Searchlight is a filmmaker-oriented company that focuses on distinctive films helmed by world-class 'auteurs' and exciting new talents. It has its own marketing, distribution and publicity operations, and its films are distributed internationally by Twentieth Century Fox. Fox Searchlight Pictures is a unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group.
