France’s Urban Factory and Mexico’s Fidelio Films have boarded Colombian filmmaker Mauricio Leiva-Cock’s psychological thriller “Los Eastman,” selected for the Fantastic Round Robin at Cannes’ Fantastic Pavilion.
According to Urban Factory’s Frédéric Corvez, they discovered the project during Colombia’s BAM Producers Meeting, where partner Florencia Gil served as a mentor. “This project stood out from the rest for its ambition and approach. It is rare and exciting to read a true page-turner. Mauricio masterfully uses elements of horror to portray and expose toxic class struggle — which, in my view, lies at the very heart of the genre.”
Set during a devastating pandemic, the drama follows a housekeeper trapped in servitude by her wealthy employers who unleashes a violent revenge. As the bloodshed escalates, she must choose between freedom and the corrupting privilege that once imprisoned her.
Leiva-Cock explained that the story was inspired by a real newspaper article he and co-writer Diego González Cruz discovered during the COVID pandemic. The article described a wealthy Bogotá family kidnapping their housekeeper under the pretext of protecting her through strict safety protocols. “The film begins as a social drama before spiraling into psychological thriller, horror and ultimately what we call Social Gore.”
