PvNew can share an exclusive clip of Rooney Mara in “La Cocina,” from writer and director Alonso Ruizpalacios. The film will make its world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, which runs Feb. 15-25.Raúl Briones, Anna Diaz, Motell Foster, Oded Fehr and Eduardo Olmos star alongside Mara, who was last seen in Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking.”
The drama is set in a busy Manhattan restaurant. During lunch rush, money goes missing from the register. All the undocumented cooks are investigated, with Pedro (Briones) the prime suspect. He’s a dreamer and a troublemaker, and in love with Julia (Mara), an American waitress who cannot commit to a relationship. While the restuarant’s owner promises to help Pedro with his immigration papaers, a shocking revelation about Julia compels Pedro to spiral into an act that will stop the cooking in one of the city’s busiest kitchens once and for all.
“I started daydreaming about this film when I worked as a dishwasher and a waiter at the Rainforest Cafe in downtown London during my student days,” said Ruizpalacios in a statement. “Which was also when I first read Arnold Wesker’s play ‘The Kitchen,’ on which the script for this film is loosely based. Reading the play at the same time that I was working in an industrial kitchen made the experience much more interesting (and the work-days bearable). I was struck by the complex caste system that still exists in kitchens, and that are an essential part of what keeps them functioning. As with the crew in a ship, hierarchy is not something that is taken lightly behind those swinging restaurant doors.”
Mexico’s Briones won the supporting actor Ariel Award for “Asfixia” (2019) and an Ariel best actor trophy for “A Cop Movie” (2021), which was directed by Ruizpalacios.
“La Cocina” was produced by Ramiro Ruiz, Gerardo Gatica, Ruizpalacios, Lauren Mann and Ivan Orlic. Fifth Season and WME are handling North American sales; Hanway has international.
