Protagonist Pictures and mk2 films have come aboard to jointly handle worldwide sales on Michel Franco’s April’s Daughter (Las Hijas de Abril), which has been selected for Cannes’ Un Certain Regard lineup. The Spanish-language feature from Mexico is Franco’s fourth film to be invited to the festival.
The story follows 17-year-old Valeria who is pregnant by her teenage boyfriend but hasn’t informed her absent mother April (Emma Suarez). When Valeria’s sister goes behind her back and calls their mother, she arrives full of concern, support and tenderness. But once the baby is born, it soon becomes clear why Valeria wanted to keep April as far away as possible.
The film also stars Ana Valeria Becerril, Joanna Larequi, Enrique Arrizon and Hernan Mendoza.
Franco writes, directs and produces the film through his Lucia Films banner. Lorenzo Vigas and Moises Zonana also produces. Rodolfo Cova, David Zonana, Gabriel Ripstein and Academy Award-nominated actor Tim Roth exec produce. Roth starred in and exec produced Franco’s first English-language feature Chronic, which won the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes in 2015.
“We think Michel’s new film is his best yet,” said Protagonist CEO Mike Goodridge. “Anchored by a wonderfully deadpan performance by Emma Suarez, April’s Daughter is a film which will surprise, even stun audiences as this story unfolds.”
Mk2 films Managing Director Juliette Schrameck added: “We are thrilled to be handling such a special film, certainly one of the most powerful pieces on parent-child relationships seen in a long time, served by Michel Franco’s remarkable execution and excellent actresses’ performances.”
Protagonist and mk2 first partnered this year in Berlin on Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War.
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