“La Cocina,” starring Rooney Mara and Raúl Briones, gets its U.S. release Oct. 25 at the Angelika Film Center in New York, and Nov. 1 at L.A.’s Laemmle Monica. Willa is handling U.S. distribution. The drama will then get a rollout in the top 10 American markets. HanWay handles international sales.
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Directed and written by Alonso Ruizpalacios, “La Cocina” stars Briones as Pedro, an undocumented cook in a busy midtown Manhattan restaurant in love with server Julia (Mara), who is pregnant with his child. Tension builds and then erupts when it’s discovered that money has been stolen from the cash register, and blame falls on Pedro. But who really stole the money?
Mexican filmmaker Ruizpalacios adapts “The Kitchen,” a 1957 play by Arnold Wesker, into a drama about social and financial inequalities in modern-day America. It also gives the anonymous workers who drive the service economy a human face, and delivers an explosive climax. Reviews from the Berlinale, where is premiered in competition, praised Ruizpalacios’ drama.
For Ruizpalacios, whose feature debut, “Güeros,” won the best first feature award at the Berlinale nearly 10 years ago, “La Cocina” is basically an anti-food-porn movie. “I wanted to show the other side of the food industry where expediency is more important than the quality of the food. It’s a metaphor for corporate capitalism,” he told Variety in February.
“Work is the other main theme: the struggle for the survival of the soul amidst the unstoppable machinery of global capitalism. As Pedro, the film’s protagonist puts it, when asked to retell his dream: ‘You can’t dream in a kitchen.’”
Production and distribution shingle Willa, headed by founder and CEO Elizabeth Woodward, focuses on socially important films. Previous Willa releases include “Another Body” (2023, Emmy Nominee, SXSW Special Jury Award and co-distributed with Utopia), “You Resemble Me” (2021, Venice Film Festival, executive produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Alma Har’el, Riz Ahmed and Claire Denis).
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“The ability to work with the team at Willa is a filmmaker’s dream, knowing they will take such incredible care of the movie. The intimacy and catered vision they have towards distribution and the partnership with them is one we look forward to” said Ruizpalacios.
“We are thrilled to partner with Willa to distribute such a ravenous film. Having worked with every distributor across hundreds of films it’s exhilarating to see an innovative and consumer forward model built for tomorrow” said co-CEO Graham Taylor of production shingle Fifth Season.
“Our mission at Willa is to increase the audience reach and impact of socially important films” said Woodward. “We harness the power of impact campaigns, collaborate closely with filmmakers, and champion innovative and experimental distribution models. We are thrilled to bring ‘La Cocina’ to audiences this fall. Visionary director Alonso Ruizpalacios has created a bold, original love story, a tour-de-force not to be missed.”
The film be released on digital platforms in early 2025, and is looking to play fall festivals for an awards season push.
'La Cocina' Review: Alonso Ruizpalacios Sharpens the Knives for This Look Inside a Chaotic New York Kitchen
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