Chile’s Eduardo Machuca Unveils Machuca Films Slate (EXCLUSIVE)
By Anna Marie de la Fuente
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – SANTIAGO, Chile – Eduardo Machuca, the former film co-ordinator of Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has launched his own production company, Machuca Films. “After 25 years at the ministry, I felt I needed to tap my creative side,” said Machuca, who is also tying the knot on Saturday (Aug. 24) with a former Sanfic staffer, Vera Guzman.
Since he left the ministry in March, Machuca has been busy cobbling together various film and TV projects, some of which he is writing, with the help of professional screenwriters. Given his enviable international connections from decades in the biz, Machuca has set up co-productions with leading Mexican post-production house Chemistry and with a number of Colombian shingles to date.
“Two years ago, Chemistry began to develop content, with its first production a mini-web series ‘Las Bodas de Malena,’ six of them produced by the Discovery Channel, Mexico,” said Chemistry’s Andres Martinez-Rios. The company performed post-production work on Gael Garcia Bernal’s second directorial feature, “Chicuarotes” and co-produced Mexican documentary “Hasta los Dientes” by Alberto Arnaut Estrada, both of which have screened at Sanfic. It’s also giving out an award at Sanfic Industry’s Works in Progress (WIP) competition.
Among the Machuca Films projects furthest along in development are:
*“Los Fuelles de Neptuno,” a psychological thriller in co-production with Colombia’s Galaxia 311 and Chemistry. Feature film is the directorial debut of Nicolas Ordoñez who has also written the screenplay. “…Neptuno” centers on a Spanish detective who is dispatched to remote Deception Island to solve the first murder committed in Antarctica. The circumstances of this crime will compel the seven passengers on the ship to face their own demons and atone.
*“Las Mujeres que Amé y un Día me Dejaron,” a romcom TV series in co-production with Chemistry with Matias Bize (“The Memory of Water”) at the helm. Series tracks a hopeless romantic in his 40s, Rafa, who despite his many conquests, is dumped by his girlfriends even when still in love with him.
*“Cumbia: Dos Caminos, Un Amor,” a musical drama in co-production with Colombia’s Zapata Films, which pivots on two childhood friends bonded by their love of music.
*“Bucarest 187,” A political TV series based on real events in co-production with Chile’s ArteFacto Producciones, with Diego Marín Verdugo attached as director-showrunner. Series follows a young journalist who, investigating the mysterious murder of her father, uncovers key evidence that will lead to General Pinochet’s arrest in London.
*“Gaudí en Chile,” a documentary in co-production with Banco Imagen Prods. with Gonzalo Duque directing.The city of Rancagua, Chile would have been the site of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi’s only building in the Americas but it remains, like his renowned La Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, unfinished to this day.
“I’ll be seeking a Catalan co-producer for this documentary,” said Machuca, who plans to spend some time in Guzman’s native Mexico to further develop his projects.
