Mubi has picked The Settlers, the latest pic from Chilean filmmaker Felipe Gálvez for North America, the UK, Latin America, Turkey, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Benelux, and India.
The pic debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section last night. Mubi has said it will release the film theatrically in the U.S., UK, and additional territories with release plans to be announced.
Set in Chile at the beginning of the 20th century, The Settlers follows a wealthy landowner who hires three horsemen to mark out the perimeter of his extensive property and open a route to the Atlantic Ocean across vast Patagonia. The expedition, composed of a young Chilean mestizo, an American mercenary, and led by a reckless British lieutenant, soon turns into a “civilizing” raid.
The deal was negotiated with mk2. Producers include Giancarlo Nasi, Benjamín Domenech, Santiago Gallelli, Matías Roveda, Emily Morgan, Thierry Lenouvel, and Stefano Centini. Co-producers are Katrin Pors, Eva Jakobsen, Mikkel Jersin, Kristina Börjeson, Anthony Muir, Ingmar Trost, Fernando Bascuñán and executive producers are Alex C. Lo, Constanza Erenchun, and Amy Gardner.
Written by Gálvez and Antonia Girardi (in collaboration with Mariano Llinás), The Settlers stars Mark Stanley, Camilo Arancibia, Benjamín Westfall, Alfredo Castro, Mishell Guaña, Agustín Rittano, Mariano Llinás, Sam Spruell, Adriana Stuven, Luis Machín, and Marcelo Alonso.
Mubi’s deal on The Settlers is the latest notable pick-up from this year’s Cannes Market, which got off to a relatively slow start last week. The most notable pact of the Market so far is Netflix’s deal to take North American on Todd Haynes’ Competition pic May December for $11 million. Deadline broke news of the acquisition yesterday morning. May December premiered at Cannes last Saturday evening, and received an eight-minute standing ovation and positive notices.
Also, earlier today, it was announced Mubi and The Match Factory have locked Firebrand filmmaker Karim Aïnouz’s next pic Rosebushpruning, which is set to star Kristen Stewart, Josh O’Connor, and Elle Fanning.
The movie is an adaptation of Marco Bellochio’s psychological feature 50 years ago, which was titled Fists in the Pocket. Aïnouz, who won the Cannes 2019 Un Certain Regard with The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, is directing from a script written by Efthimis Filippou (Dogtooth). Adaptation rights were acquired from Kavac Film and shooting will begin in 2024.
