Global film distributor and production company Mubi has picked up “The Meltdown” (“El Deshielo”) by Chile’s Manuela Martelli (“Chile’76”), which world premiered at the Un Certain Regard sidebar at Cannes last May.
Mubi plans to stream Martelli’s latest drama later this year after it screens at the San Sebastian Film Festival’s Horizontes Latinos strand in September, one of the festival’s most important sections after its main competition focusing on best-of-fest Latin American titles.
Set at an Andes ski resort in post-Pinochet Chile, the story unfolds through the eyes of a young girl who witnesses unsettling events that test her loyalties. It stars Maya O’Rourke – in her film debut – alongside Paulina Urrutia, Mauricio Pešutić, Paula Zúñiga, Marcela Salinas and Lautaro Cantillana.
Written and directed by Martelli, with cinematography by Benjamín Echazarreta, the film is a Chilean-American-Mexican-Spanish co-production involving top players in Latin America and Spain: Ronda Cine, Cinema Inutile, Wood Producciones, Elástica Films, Piano and Fundación Río.
Drama is in contention to represent Chile at the Oscars and Spain’s prestigious Goya Awards and is among the many outstanding films to emerge in recent years from the country despite its paltry set of state-backed funds.
