Neon has acquired the North American rights to “New Order,” the latest feature from Mexican auteur Michel Franco that won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival this year.
“New Order” also made its North American premiere at Toronto and will next play at the BFI London Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival. Neon is planning a theatrical release for the film but will announce release plans at a later date.
“New Order” is a dystopian drama set in the near future that grapples class dynamics and government recapitulation, and it concerns a woman from a high society family trying to prepare for a wedding but is unable to keep protests and the real world from disturbing the party.
Franco conceived the film six years earlier, but critics have already hailed the film for its prescient themes. “New Order” is the follow-up to Franco’s “April’s Daughter” from 2017, which won the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize at Cannes.
Also Read: ‘New Order’ Film Review: A Political Horror Moment Gets Its Political Horror Movie
“New Order” was written, produced and directed by Franco, and it stars Naian González Norvind, Darío Yazbek Bernal, Lisa Owen, Fernando Cuautle, Mónica Del Carmen, Eligio Meléndez, Diego Boneta, Patricia Bernal, Roberto Medina, Enrique Singer and Gustavo Sánchez Parra.
Cristina Velasco L. and Eréndira Núñez Larios produced “New Order” with Teorema, in co-production with Les Films d’Ici. Lorenzo Vigas, Diego Boneta, Cecilia Franco and Charles Barthe are the executive producers.
“In making ‘New Order,’ I had to think about movies in a whole new way. It’s not only my largest scale film but it’s the first time I have commented on Mexico and the social disparity in the world at large,” Franco said in a statement. “It’s been a thrill to see people respond around the world with such passion. I can’t think of a better distributor than Neon to help bring this film into North America with their inventive and thoughtful strategies.”
Mason Speta negotiated the deal for NEON with ICM Partners on behalf of the filmmakers. The Match Factory is handling international sales.
Neon previously acquired another foreign language drama that had been hot on the festival circuit this fall, “Night of the King,” which will be Ivory Coast’s official Oscar submission for 2021.
