In its 62nd edition, the prestigious Critics’ Week (May 17-25) has selected the fiction feature Levante, by Brazilian director and writer Lillah Halla. It is a co-production between France -In Vivo Films- Brazil -Arissas and Manjericão Filmes- and Uruguay, by the production company Cimarrón Cine.
The film, shot in Brazil and on the Uruguay-Brazil border, tells the story of Sofia, a promising 17-year-old volleyball player. The day before a championship that could seal her destiny, Sofia learns that she is pregnant. Not wanting this pregnancy, she seeks an illegal abortion and finds herself in the crosshairs of a fundamentalist group bent on preventing it at all costs. But neither Sofia nor those close to her intend to submit to the blind fervor of the masses.
Levante‘s selection at Critics’ Week underscores Uruguay’s prominent role as an attractive co-production partner, and the strength of collaborative audiovisual relations between Uruguay and two major strategic partners, Brazil and France.
The play features the Uruguayan participation of Cristina Morán (a renowned actress and communicator of great trajectory) and the participation of Nicole Davrieux in costumes.
The Critics’ Week, created in 1962 by the French Film Critics Association as a parallel section to the Cannes Film Festival, recognizes new avant-garde talent and directors in their first and second projects. In its successive editions, this event has discovered directors such as Jacques Audiard, Alejandro González Iñarritu, Ken Loach, François Ozon, Wong Kar Wai, César Augusto Acevedo, Julia Ducournau, David R. Mitchell, Santiago Mitre, Jeff Nichols and Rebecca Zlotowski.
