Neon Buys Josh O’Connor and Isabella Rossellini’s ‘La Chimera’

Neon has acquired the North American distribution rights to Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera,” starring Josh O’Connor and Isabella Rossellini.

Written and directed by Rohrwacher, the film is set in the 1980s in the clandestine world of the tombaroli (tomb robbers) and tells the story of a young English archaeologist (O’Connor) who gets caught up in the illegal trafficking of ancient finds.

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The cast also includes Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher and Vincenzo Nemolato. The film has wrapped phase one of production in Tarquinia and southern Tuscany and will continue in August and September in central Italy and Switzerland.

The film is produced, as all of Rohrwacher’s previous films, by Carlo Cresto-Dina with his company Tempesta and long-time backers Rai Cinema, in co-production with Neon, Amka Films (Switzerland) and Ad Vitam Production (France), and in partnership with Arte France Cinema, Canal+, Ciné+, RSI/SSR SRG (Switzerland) and French distributor Ad Vitam.

Executive producers are Tom Quinn, Eli Bush, Jeff Deutchman, Manuela Melissano, Alexandra Henochsberg, Pierre-François Piet and Michael Weber.

Public funds sustaining the project are CNC Cinéma du Monde (France) and Federal Office of Culture FOC (Switzerland). La Chimera re-unites Rohrwacher with several longtime collaborators including top French DOP Hélène Louvart, editor Nelly Quettier, production designer Emita Frigato, and costume designer Loredana Buscemi. The casting was curated by Chiara Polizzi and Fiona Weir.

Neon is in Cannes with David Cronenberg’s “Crime of the Future,” starring Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart and Viggo Mortensen, as well as Brett Morgen’s experiential, genre-defying David Bowie film “Moonage Daydream.”

The company also snapped up horror “Enys Men” and Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Broker” ahead of their Cannes debuts.

Neon’s Jeff Deutchman and Mason Speta negotiated the North America deal with The Match Factory and UTA. The Match Factory is also representing international sales. UTA represents Rohrwacher.

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