Netflix has unveiled the new film from Argentine writer-director Damián Szifron (Wild Tales, To Catch a Killer), El sobrino, starring Leonardo Sbaraglia (Elite, Pain and Glory, Wild Tales). Rita Cortese, Luisana Lopilato, Valeria Lois and newcomer Luan Adler Fuks also feature in the cast. Netflix also promises “special appearances by Vincent Macaigne and the legendary [Italian actor] Franco Nero.”
The dramedy, which doesn’t have an English-language title yet, is written and directed by Szifron, whose 2014 film Wild Tales was Argentina’s contender and nominee for what was then known as the Oscar’s best foreign-language film section.
“An internationally renowned pianist, at the height of his career, sees his world turned upside down when he discovers that his nine-year-old nephew possesses a musical talent that could surpass his own,” reads a synopsis for El sobrino, which translates as “The Nephew.”
Produced by K&S Films, the movie is starting filming today, Monday, in Ramos Mejía in the Buenos Aires province. Set in the world of classical music, it promises to send its protagonists on “a dizzying pilgrimage through Buenos Aires, Hamburg, London and New York.” El Sobrino comes from producers Hugo Sigman, Matías Mosteirin and Leticia Cristi. The director of pPhotography is Julián Apezteguía.
“Starting a film shoot is an intense experience,” said Szifron. “It marks the point where a significant flow of visual and narrative ideas, extensively discussed with teams of artists and collaborators, cross the threshold of imagination and begin to transform into concrete images and sounds. It is a fascinating process of materialization that resembles magic, but which often occurs under very high-pressure conditions, because filmmaking is expensive and risky. The challenge is to remain creative and sensitive in that context, and to find allies who understand and enhance the task.”
Added the filmmaker: “For as long as I can remember, the films that have most impacted me reside at the intersection of art and industry. Today, that intersection is increasingly thin, which is why I consider the strong support of Netflix, the leading global content producer, and of K&S – at this point, part of my family – a privilege in telling this story. Leo is at an incredible point in his acting career: lucid, profound, mature and vital, and I am especially excited about the reconnection with my beloved Rita, meeting Luisana and Valeria, discovering such a young and unique actor as Luan, and the opportunity to collaborate with Franco Nero, my childhood idol. New film. New adventure. Here we go!”
Said producer Mosteirin: “Damián is back with a vengeance: El sobrino is surely the best script we’ve ever read. Szifron plays with genres and shows us that comedy can lead us, with humor and beauty, to explore profound themes of the human condition. With this film, he invites us to reflect on art and creation, family ties, love and loneliness, our origins, and the passage of time.”
