The Match Factory Boards ‘Noche de Fuego’ From ‘Roma’ Producer (EXCLUSIVE)

By Leo Barraclough

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Leading arthouse sales agent The Match Factory, which has four films in the Cannes Film Festival official selection, has added “Noche de Fuego” by Mexican-El Salvadoran director Tatiana Huezo to its slate. The film is produced by Nicolas Celis, producer of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” and Jim Stark, who has produced several films by Jim Jarmusch.

“Noche de Fuego,” which is based on Jennifer Clement’s novel “Prayers for the Stolen,” is Huezo’s third film following “The Tiniest Place” (2011) — winner of the Ariel Award for best Mexican documentary, best international feature at Visions Du Reel and the Fipresci Award at Mar del Plata — and “Tempestad” (2016), which premiered at Berlinale Forum, and won the documentary award at Camerimage plus four Ariel Awards, including for direction and documentary. “Tempestad” was also nominated at the Goya Awards for best Ibero-American Film.

“Noche de Fuego” tells the story of three girls living in a mountain town where corn and poppies grow. They wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground to escape the threat of being abducted. Ana and her two best friends grow up together, affirming the bonds of their friendship and discovering what it means to be women in a rural town marked by violence. Their mothers train them to flee death, and to escape those who would turn them into slaves. They create their own impenetrable universe, but one day one of the girls doesn’t make it to her hiding place in time.

Celis’ Pimienta Films co-produces with Match Factory Prods., Desvia, Bord Cadre Films and Cactus Film & Video. The film is in production.