EXCLUSIVE: Messi and Maud, a Chilean adventure with a childless 45-year-old woman and an eight-year-old boy, had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. The film was selected for TIFF’s Discovery Program under the category of ‘Directors to Watch: The Future of World Cinema.’
The film marks the first feature-length work by director Marleen Jonkman and writer Daan Gielis, and stars Dutch actors Rifka Lodeizen (Tonio, Publieke Werken) and Guido Pollemans (Overspel).
The exclusive clip above gives us a peek at the road trip movie. The story follows a 45-year-old woman (Lodeizen) who refuses to accept that she can’t have children. To potentially start a new life, her partner, Frank, takes her on holiday to that South American country.
Once there, their fragile relationship is shattered by yet another huge argument, which leads Maud to head off on an adventure of her own to get her life back on track. Along the way, she has a chance meeting with a father and his eight-year-old son, Messi. That serendipitous encounter will forever change her life.
The film is produced by Danielle Guirguis for Smarthouse Films, in co-production with Leitwolf TV- und Filmproduktion (Germany) and FATT Productions from Amsterdam. The project was developed at Torino FilmLab and EAVE/PUENTES and was supported by The Netherlands Film Fund. Distributor September Film will release Messi and Maud in 2018 in theaters. Visit Films is handling world sales.
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.