UDI Boards Boisier’s ‘Dowsing’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Chile’s Forastero, producer of the Golden Globe-nommed “The Maid,” is teaming with Frederic Corvez’s Paris-based UDI, one of France’s most prominent Latin American pic production-sales houses, to produce “Radiestesia” (Dowsing).
UDI has acquired international sales rights, Corvez’s Paris-based Urban Factory will co-produce with Forastero. Edgar San Juan’s Film Tank will co-produce out of Mexico, reteaming with Forastero for the first time since “The Maid.” Out of Chile, “Dowsing” is also co-produced by Don Quijote Films, which teamed with Forastero on the upcoming “R.Lorena,” and by Zapik Films, which developed the project. Shooting begins February.
“Dowsing” is the sophomore directorial outing of Jairo Boisier, a member of a generation of young Chilean directors that had three features selected for Sundance, and three in Directors’ Fortnight, which unveils its prizes Friday: Sebastian Silva’s “Magic Magic,” Alejandro Jodorosky’s “The Dance of Reality” and Marcela Said’s “The Summer of Flying Fish.”
“Dowsing” is set in a drought-plagued town in northern Chile where a 40-year-old man suddenly becomes the local hero by discovering underground water courses with his divining rod. But it’s his 10-year-old daughter who really has the talent.
Daniel Munoz, star of Chile’s hit TV drama “The ‘80s,” will topline. “The Maid’s” Ana Reeves co-stars.
Boisier developed “Dowsing’s” screenplay at the Cannes Festival’s Cinefondation.
UDI-Forastero discussions kicked in after Corvez met Boisier at the Cinefondation, then caught his “La jubilada” at France’s Belfort Festival, Corvez said.
Gonzalez added, “’Dowsing’ is a highly visual family film about the need for social status, esteem and its loss.”
Highlighting the fact that, as emerging markets build their own national industries, film finance can be sourced almost anywhere, Forastero will also produce “El regreso” (The Return), the feature debut of British filmmaker Miriam Heard whose “Welcome Home Emma Rose” plays Cannes’ Short Film Corner.
“Return” turns on two brothers who go home to the wild northern reaches of Chile, having worked for military contractors in Iraq. One is in a wheelchair, both racked by guilt.
“I was intrigued by the information Miriam provided: In 2013, the total number of suicides among U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan overtook the number killed in action,” Gonzalez said.
“Chilean mercenaries are prized in Iraq and Afghanistan for their professionalism. Many have been there but nobody talks about them. There is a story waiting to be told.”
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