Cornelius Boards Lantica Studio’s ‘My Uncle’s Movie,’ With ‘Better Call Saul’s’ Steven Bauer, Dominican Newcomer Maia Otero (EXCLUSIVE)

In a sterling example of the globalized nature of the international film business, Barcelona-based Cornelius Films, behind Basque Country-set “Negu Hubrilak” and buzzy upcoming stop-motion feature  “Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake,” has boarded “My Uncle’s Movie,” a Dominican Republic feature starring “Better Call Saul’s” Steve Bauer.

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Now in pre-production and set to shoot in 2024, ““My Uncle’s Movie” (“La Película de Mi Tío”) marks the follow-up of Dominican Natalia Cabral and Catalan Oriol Estrada’s auspicious fiction feature debut “Miriam Lies” (2018) and multi-prized “Una Película Sobre Parejas” (2021). It is Cabral’s first solo directorial outing without Estrada since her 2005 short “DiscoDecada.”

Set to be presented mid-August at Locarno’s networking initiative Match Me!,“My Uncle’s Movie” is now set up as a production of Faula Films, Estrada and Cabral’s label, based between the Dominican Republic and Barcelona; mega filming facility Lantica Studios, whose now sole owner Lantica Media is building a new fourth soundstage; independent production house Casa Latina Films, headed by Gregorio Rodríguez and Cornelius Films.

Written by Estrada and Cabral, “My Uncle’s Movie” is directed by Cabral is her solo directorial feature debut.

“My Uncle’s Movie” stars newcomer Maia Otero who is joined by the Cuban-born Bauer, who played Manolo “Manny” Ribera, the right-hand man of Cuban drug lord Tony Montana, in “Scarface.” and drug cartel leader Don Eladio Vuente in “Breaking Bad” (2011) and in “Better Call Saul” (2017–2022).

Key cast also includes writer-director-actor Félix Germán, who won best actor La Silla and Soberano Awards for his performance in José María Cabral’s “The Projectionist,” who plays the uncle of the film’s title.

Also cast are Hemkyu Madera (“Dreaming of Julia,” “The Lost City” and Eduardo Ceballos, an associate producer on “Hands of Stone.”

“Una Película de Parejas” starred Cabral and Estrada as a filmmaking duo tasked to make a documentary about couples, while the framing fiction feature chronicles their ever rockier relationship as they set out to do so.

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Equally, making use of Lantica Studios, “My Uncle’s Movie” is a comedy that looks likely to play off Cabral and Estrada large insider knowledge of another world they know well: Film shoots, though their own auteurist low-budget feature are miles from the film shot in “My Uncle’s Movie.”

In it, a niece reunites with her estranged uncle as the director of an action movie he produces. But as old wounds resurface, production funding doesn’t come through. The movie’s closed down. “But, in the end, they realize that saving their relationship is the opportunity they both have to move forward and give meaning to a life full of failures,” the synopsis runs.

“‘My Uncle’s Movie’ is a commitment to Dominican auteur cinema, choosing to critique the country’s socioeconomic situation through bright absurdist comedy,” said Cornelius Films’ Carlota Darnell, an executive producer on “My Uncle’s Movie,” which she will talk up at Match Me!

“It combines the talent and experience of the established Dominican director, screenwriter, and producer Natalia Cabral and her team in the Dominican Republic, the expertise in international co-productions of the Spanish company Cornelius Films (which has co-produced with France, Belgium, Chile, and Mexico), and a cast that blends new Dominican talents (Maia Otero) with an international star (Steven Bauer),” Darnell added. “All these elements make ‘My Uncle’s Movie’ a film with broad international potential.”

Estrada and Cabral produce for Faula Films, Rodríguez for Casa Latina Films, Rafael Elías Muñoz, Jordi Gassó for Lantica Studios and Mikel Mas for Cornelius Films.

Match Me! runs Aug. 9-11 at Locarno, the Locarno Festival over Aug. 7-16.

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