The Yellow Affair has boarded world sales on Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Competition title “Reinas,” directed by Klaudia Reynicke. PvNew has been given access to the trailer (below).
The film is set in Lima in the summer of 1992. Lucia, Aurora and their mother Elena are about to leave. They are apprehensive about saying goodbye to a country, to family and friends, but above all to Carlos, a father and ex-husband who has all but disappeared from their lives.
In the midst of Peru’s social and political chaos, this announced departure will give rise to contradictory feelings, reviving old regrets and generating new illusions. Facing the uncertainty of their future head on, their frustrations and fears are mixed with excitement and expectation, as the family faces the difficult truth about the losses this departure implies.
The Yellow Affair says the film is a “beautiful, dramatically intense and ultimately heart-warming film about a family living through seismic change in their lives alongside the political upheaval and economic crisis in their country – Peru.” The story is a blend of Reynicke’s “cinematic vision and personal experience,” The Yellow Affair added.
The film is written by Reynicke and Diego Vega. It is produced by Britta Rindelaub and Thomas Reichlin for Alva Film (Switzerland), Daniel Vega and Diego Vega for Maretazo Cine (Peru) and Valérie Delpierre for Inicia Films (Spain). The cast includes Abril Gjurinovic, Luana Vega, Gonzalo Molina, Jimena Lindo and Susi Sánchez.
The film is a co-production with Swiss national broadcaster RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. Financiers include Swiss Federal Office for Culture and regional funds Cineforom and Ticino Fondo Film Plus, the Spanish National Film Fund, the regional fund in Catalunya and Peruvian ministry for culture.
Distribution in the production/co-production territories will be handled by Filmcoopi (Switzerland), Tondero Distribución (Peru) and BTeam Pictures (Spain).
Reynicke, a Swiss-Peruvian filmmaker, grew up across Peru, Switzerland and the U.S. With a background in Fine Arts and Social Sciences, she began filmmaking at NYU’s Tisch School of Arts in 2005, later earning a filmmaking Master’s from ECAL – HEAD in Switzerland. Her debut, “Il Nido” (2016), competed at the Locarno Film Festival, followed by “Love Me Tender” (2019), which had its international premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
Reynicke said: “I left Peru and part of my family at the age of 10 to move to Europe and later to the United States. Back then, the social, economic and political situation of the country was at its worst, and as many families did, my mother, her husband and I left.”
“As time went on and I became older, I felt a deep longing to return to my homeland, but not as a stranger or a mere tourist. I needed to reconnect with my roots. ‘Reinas’ emerged from this need to blend my personal story with my cinematic vision.”
“Because the notion of family defines a strong part of my identity, I wanted to provide an insightful look into a family in the particular context that made us leave back then. Focusing on two young sisters who gradually accept a man – their biological father whom they barely know – as a parent was an opportunity to explore the challenges of both childhood and parenthood simultaneously, through a planned departure and the desire to belong.”
“In this sense, ‘Reinas’ addresses the complexity of leaving one’s home country and separation as a compromise between pain and hope.”
Rindelaub said: “Klaudia Reynicke shows immense tenderness towards her characters, in a way that is sometimes irreverent, but never immodest. With ‘Reinas,’ I see the confirmation of Klaudia Reynicke’s own cinematic language, film after film, a language that is unusual and daring, a language with which she creates striking anti-heroes and anti-heroines who question stereotypes in a surprising and original way. In ‘Reinas,’ Aurora and Lucia leave the land of their childhood, but also the land of their innocence. After this last summer in Lima, they will be able to understand a truth about their father and their family that has eluded them up to now and recompose their own history with it.”
The Yellow Affair’s Karoliina Dwyer said: “We are extremely excited to be representing Klaudia Reynicke’s third feature, ‘Reinas.’ Klaudia is a hugely talented filmmaker. We fell in love with this heart-warming and offbeat family portrait set against the vibrant and chaotic backdrop of Lima in 1992. We can’t wait for the Sundance audiences to see the film.”
The Yellow Affair’s slate also includes the psychological thriller “Unmoored,” which had its world premiere at BFI London Film Festival, Czech Republic’s Oscar entry, the upcoming cold war thriller “Brothers,” directed by Tomas Masin, and Toronto Centrepiece selected titles “Chuck Chuck Baby,” directed by Janis Pugh and “Je’vida,” directed by Katja Gauriloff. The slate also includes “The Rooster,” which had its world premiere at Melbourne Film Festival and director Mark Leonard Winter recently won best direction in a debut feature film at the Australian Directors’ Guild Awards.
