MMM Film Sales has picked up Aurélien Vernhes-Lermusiaux’s “Black Snake” ahead of its premiere at Cannes’ ACID. ARP has taken distribution rights in France.
ACID’s closing film, shot in the Colombian desert, tells the story of Ciro, who returns to his home town after 10 years to tend to his dying mother, confront those he has abandoned as well as a legacy.
“In each of our family histories, there’s the question of inheritance. With ‘The Black Snake’, I want to show that it’s sometimes difficult to receive what we inherit from our ancestors or parents,” Vernhes-Lermusiaux told Variety.
“For fear of disappointing them, some people prefer to run away. Ciro’s family’s visceral attachment to a way of life can be seen as an obstacle. But behind this need to keep a tradition alive, it’s the intangible part of the heritage that interests me. The part that allows us to be sensitive beings and gives us a unique connection to the world.”
Confronted with his mother’s heritage, and seeing the desert he has known become more fragile, Ciro reconsiders the choices he’s made in the past.
“In this respect, I don’t know if we can totally free ourselves from our roots. We remain connected to them and even if we try to put things off, a simple event in the future can redistribute the cards,” Vernhes-Lermusiaux said.
What interested him in making the film was “disturbing reality.”
“I drew inspiration from ancestral tales and sprinkled the film with dreamlike imagery. It was important not to make a fantasy film, but to offer a more singular vision of reality. I want people to imagine that the events, encounters and situations that Ciro experiences are realistic. I always flirt with the limits of what’s possible.”
Shooting in Colombia, in the Tatacoa desert, was a “revelation,” he said.
“Local people have a very sensitive relationship with nature. The heightened sensory experiences and dreamlike images are in no way exotic. It’s a way of living and perceiving the world. This land is fascinating, challenging and complex. It has an ageing population and young people, who have very few opportunities, sometimes see it as having no future. However, when I discovered it, I immediately felt a very special energy.”
“Tatacoa” means “black snake”, he explained.
“There were many in the past, all of which have now disappeared. Climate change and certain human activities have taken their toll. Their disappearance is just one of the signs that the region is changing and losing its identity. It must be preserved because it remains vulnerable and fragile.”
Vernhes-Lermusiaux was able to understand his protagonist.
“Very early on, perhaps too early on, I wanted to leave a rural environment in the south of France. I isolated myself in big cities, which displaced some of my values. It’s only recently that I’ve become aware of the importance of the places where I grew up,” he said.
“When you’re born or grow up in Tatacoa, you’re marked by the secular and sensory forces of this type of territory. It’s impossible to forget them, impossible not to bear the scars. You can reject them, but they remain. Ciro is deeply marked by the memory of this place and its history. The simple act of returning confronts him with it all over again. Slowly, the desert calls you back, penetrating you again to make you feel how important it is.”
Previously, Vernhes-Lermusiaux directed “Towards the Battle.”
“We loved Aurélien’s first film and were wondering where he would bring us next. Shot in the Colombian desert, this new film is nothing short of hypnotic. We are happy and proud to present it to a French audience,” said ARP’s Michèle Halberstadt.
“Making this film has been an extraordinary human adventure and collaboration between talented people from France, Colombia and Brazil. It’s thanks to all these marvelous beings and energies, and to the daring ACID selection, that we can present the film in Cannes. We hope it’ll touch the public’s senses,” added David Hurst, producing for France’s Dublin Films.
Diana Bustamante of Burning (Colombia) and Jessica Luz and Paola Wink of Vulcana Cinema (Brazil) co-produce. The original score is by alternative rock band Tindersticks.
“We are proud to attend our first Cannes with such a precious film, set in a sublime ancestral desert that reflects a world losing its roots and natural balance. This powerful story of tradition, displacement and identity also carries a strong ecological message – one that speaks to the concerns of today’s society and will resonate with both festivals and arthouse distributors,” said MMM team in a statement.
MMM Film Sales will also bring Laurent Slama’s “A Second Life” to Cannes’ Marché du Film, starring Agathe Rousselle and Alex Lawther. It will premiere in the Tribeca International Narrative competition.
