Argentine director Luján Loioco (“about a Woman,” “The Girl with Yellow Heels”) is prepping her third feature film, “Queen of the Woods” (“Reina del bosque”), starring Chile’s venerable Alfredo Castro, seen most recently in Pablo Larrain’s Oscar-nominated “El Conde,” and rising Argentine actress Delfina Chaves (“Máxima,” “Ringo”).
The story takes place in a cabin set against the snow-covered Patagonian mountains and is described as a “neo-horror feminine film that explores the failed relationship between a pregnant woman and her dying father.” Through the gripping mechanisms of thriller and neo-horror, the film delves deep into the theme of grief while posing unsettling reflections on the complexities of motherhood.
Principal photography is slated to start mid-2024 for a film that stands as a testament to the rise of women filmmakers in Latin America and their creative prowess.
“I have always felt drawn to narratives that offer a different approach to the idea of death. I believe in a less materialistic view of existence that provides a sense of continuity and can speak of death as just another part of life,” said Loioco, adding: “In that sense, ‘Queen of the Woods’ comes to dispel the most visceral fears that were awakened with my first motherhood; Silenced terrors closely linked to the feminine, loss, and everything we cannot control.”
Julio Bove at Bosco Entertainment produces the drama alongside NonStop Studios in Spain and Loioco’s Libre Cine. Chile’s Clara Larraín of Clara Films, who attends Berlinale as part of the Chilean delegation, and Brazil’s Cinefilm have also boarded the pic.
“I’ve always been an admirer of Luján Loioco’s previous indie films,” said Bove, adding: “Her vision, her fresh writing and directorial style as well as her handling of deep emotional conflicts with such strength and subtlety at the same time, inspired me to want to produce ‘Queen of the Woods.’”
Loioco’s “about a Woman” (“Algo con una mujer,” 2020), which she co-directed with Mariano Turek, is a crime thriller set during a politically fraught period in Argentina in 1955 where a seamstress-housewife is the sole witness to a murder committed by her neighbor.
Her feature debut, “The Girl with Yellow Heels” (“La niña de tacones amarillos,” 2015), revolves around a 15-year old girl in a small town where a luxury hotel has gone up. She starts working with her mother at the premises where she turns what were initially unwanted advances by the men to her advantage.
