Spanish boutique sales outfit Bendita Film Sales has picked up worldwide rights to Neto Villalobos’ “Love is the Monster” ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF)’s Centrepiece global showcase program.
Shot in Golfito, situated in Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific coast, the dystopian thriller stars Berlinale Silver Bear actress award winner Paulina Garcia who plays a grandmother who doesn’t have long to live. Bent on making the most of what time she has left, she seeks out her seven-year-old granddaughter who lives in a gated community with her mother. When her granddaughter is kidnapped, she sets out to rescue her, whatever it takes.
“’Love Is the Monster’ immediately pulled us into its strange, threatening world. Neto Villalobos turns an intimate family story into a tense tropical dystopia that feels both unfamiliar and disturbingly close — a thriller in which love, fear and the instinct to protect begin to blur into something much more dangerous,” said Luis Renart, CEO/Sales & Acquisitions at Bendita Film Sales.
The multi-country drama is produced by La Sucia Centroamericana (Costa Rica) in co-production with Cine Infinito (Peru), Expansiva Cine (Panama), Clara Films (Chile), Avalancha Studio (Mexico) and Liminal Estudio (Mexico).
