Veteran Portuguese producer Paulo Branco has begun principal photography on the €4.5 million ($5.3 million) dystopian drama “Aqui,” directed by Tiago Guedes ad shooting in Spain and Portugal.
Acclaimed South African and Australian novelist, J.M. Coetzee, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature, sold the rights to his “Jesus” trilogy to Branco, on condition that the film is shot entirely in Spanish.
The “Jesus” trilogy, published in the 2010s, explores how the English language is taking over the world and reflects Coetzee’s interest in the Global South and in particular Argentine literature.
In the film, child refugee David (played by first-time actors Álex Peláez and Hugo Encuentra) befriends Simón (Manolo Solo) on a boat travelling to a no-man’s land. Upon their arrival Simón meets Inés (Patricia López Arnaiz) and the three flee to a new city where David is enrolled in a dance academy and develops mysterious abilities.
Alongside distinguished Spanish actors Solo (“Close Your Eyes”) and López Arnaiz (“20,000 Species of Bees”), the high-profile cast includes Itsaso Arana (“Volveréis”), Ángela Molina (“Live Flesh”) director Fernando Trueba, Argentine actor Daniel Elias (“The Delinquents”) and French actors Lambert Wilson (“The Matrix Reloaded”) and Sergi López (“Map of the Sounds of Tokyo”).
Branco (“Cosmopolis,” “Mysteries of Lisbon”) is one of Europe’s most prolific producers having produced over 300 films with leading auteurs including David Cronenberg, Paul Auster, Alain Tanner, Wim Wenders, Raúl Ruiz, Chantal Akerman and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi.
“Aqui” is a Franco-Portuguese co-production between Branco’s production houses Alfama Films and Leopardo Films, based in Paris and Lisbon respectively.
“I feel a great responsibility for the trust placed in me by Coetzee.” Branco confided to Variety. “I’m increasingly interested in films adapted from literary texts, but this brings an artistic responsibility to respect the vision of the author. I had a similar experience with David Cronenberg’s “Cosmopolis,” adapted from Don DeLillo’s novel.”
Production support includes France’s CNC and Portugal’s ICA – Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual, PIC – Tourism and Cinema Support Fund, RTP, Lisbon City Council and Porto Film Commission.
Director Tiago Guedes, who studied in the New York Film Academy, is one of Portugal’s top film, TV and theater directors. He previously worked with Branco on feature films “The Domain” and “Remains of the Wind,” which played in main competition at Venice in 2019 and Cannes in 2022 respectively.
Guedes explains that he has long dreamt of adapting one of Coetzee’s novels, describing the “Jesus” trilogy as a “hypnotic 800-page allegory” that explores a fundamental solitude.
The 65-day shoot will film in brutalist architecture sites in Portugal, especially in Porto, Viana do Castelo, Coimbra and Lisbon, complemented by port scenes in Spain’s Cantabria region. “I want to build this timeless world using objects, landscapes, and architecture that feel suspended in time,” says Guedes. “There is no modern technology. Everything seems stuck between the 1940s and 1970s.”
Branco is also completing other film adaptations, including Sérgio Graciano’s “Memories of Prison” based on Camilo Castelo Branco’s novel and Mário Barroso’s “Lavagante,” adapted from the last work by José Cardoso Pires.
The 75-year-old producer is now focused primarily on producing in Portugal, rather than in France, for political and professional reasons. “I spent my childhood under the fascist regime in Portugal,” he explained to Variety. “I’ve now reached an age and a stage in my career where I’m no longer willing to waste time and energy with the type of inquisitorial spirit that is currently gripping France.”
Branco aims to have the world premiere of “Aqui” at Cannes in 2026.
