Los Angeles, CA – May 15, 2019 – U.S. label Rock Salt Releasing is re-launching acclaimed Argentine-Brazilian filmmaker Hector Babenco’s (Kiss Of The Spider Woman) final film ‘My LAST FRIEND’ in the international and U.S markets, learned Deadline exclusively.
ROCK SALT RELEASING proudly announces acquisition of past cinema legend / Oscar nominee, Hector Babenco’s personal final feature film, MY LAST FRIEND (aka ‘My Hindu Friend’, ‘Meu Amigo Hindu’), as the team launches worldwide sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. “Babenco’s film makes frequent nods to the golden age of Hollywood, and in a way, is an ode to cinema itself. It’s a story about cheating death, a story about rebirth,” wrote TR.
MY LAST FRIEND is an O2 Production shot in Brazil in English. Originally released in Brazil, the film internationally premiered at the Montréal World Film Festival in 2016 where DaFoe was awarded ‘Best Actor’. The film’s release was put on hold due to Hector Babenco’s untimely death in July 2016. Until TriCoast Worldwide, on the advice of The Movie Agency, rescued the film to make it available to worldwide audiences, under it’s auteur banner ROCK SALT RELEASING.
“Cinematographically, Babenco exhibits complete mastery of language and other peculiarities of the craft – a successful formal concern visible in the sequence of frames, plans and camera movements; a very sharp script; an efficient soundtrack; […and] an excellent director of the strong and well integrated cast,” wrote POL+BR.
Co-written by Guilherme Moraes Guintella (Principal Dancer, Instigated, Sintonia series), MY LAST FRIEND was inspired by Hector Babenco’s life story, starring his friends and family as characters. Mirroring Babenco’s personal journey, four-time Oscar nominee, Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Florida Project) stars as Diego, a talented American filmmaker, whose life is quickly disrupted after being diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. Tempestuous and close to death, Diego marries the beautiful Livia (Maria Fernanda Cândido) before heading to Seattle for life-saving treatments, including receiving a bone marrow transplant. During treatment Diego meets a young Hindu boy (Rio Adlakha), with whom he plays chess with while sharing stories and future dreams. Through a series of heart-wrenching events and a surprise visitor, chances are he won’t survive. But if he does, Diego must relearn how to live.
“Babenco-Dafoe’s gaze is relentless, without any trace of complacency. It does not escape anything, nor does it forgive anything, the impotence, the abandonment of the woman, the fights of the family in the death of the patriarch, the greed of the brother to donate (organs) to the transplant that would save his life, depression, the behavior of friends, the harbinger of death,” wrote Observatório da Imprensa.
MY LAST FRIEND will screen at the Marché du Film for buyers and programmers only, at Olympia 2 on Saturday, May 18th at 14:00. To attend with press passes, please contact jenna@tricoast.com.
ROCK SALT RELEASING will also bring MY LAST FRIEND to U.S. audiences later this year.
Alongside Dafoe, MY LAST FRIEND stars Brazil’s top, award-winning talent including, Maria Fernada Cândido (Dom, Edge of Desire series, Terra Nostra), Reynaldo Gianecchini (Family Ties, Shades of Sin, Belissima series, Seven Sins series), Selton Mello (The Mechanism, The Movie of My Life, Trash), Bárbara Paz (Viver a Vida, Marisol, Manual Para Atropelar Cachorro, Seize the Day series) and Guilherme Weber (Desert, Shades of Sin, The Big Catch series).
MY LAST FRIEND (2019, 124 min.) Directed and written by: Hector Babenco. Co-writer: Guilherme Moraes Guintella. Producers: Hector Babenco, Jeremy Thomas, Marcelo Torress. Editor: Gustavo Giani. Cinematographer: Mauro Pinheiro Jr. Original music: Zbigniew Preisner. Brazil, English. O2 Productions, Rock Salt Releasing, Producer’s representative: The Movie Agency.
Production Company: O2 Productions.
ABOUT ROCK SALT RELEASING: Daisy Hamilton and Dean Fernando curate artistic, award winning auteur films for worldwide theatrical release.
About TriCoast Worldwide:
TriCoast Worldwide is a premium international sales agent, representing the best of US and international films at all the major film markets. Sister company to TriCoast Entertainment and TriCoast Studios, the company is located at the Studio facility in Culver City, Los Angeles.
Founded by: Strathford Hamilton and Marcy Levitas Hamilton.
See TriCoast’s Cannes line-up here: https://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/companies/tricoast-worldwide.
Media Contact
Company Name: TriCoast Entertainment
Contact Person: Jenna Wilen
Email: Send Email
Phone: 3104587707
Address:11124 Washington Blvd.
City: Culver City
State: California
Country: United States
Website: http://www.tricoastworldwide.com