Film Republic Boards Berlinale Forum Title ‘Far From Us’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Stewart Clarke

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Film Republic has signed international rights to “Far From Us,” Verena Kuri and Laura Bierbrauer’s latest film, which will world-premiere in the Forum sidebar at the Berlin Film Festival. Xavier Henry-Rashid’s will start the sales effort at the EFM.

The film follows Ramira, played by Marcia Majcher, as she returns to her home in the Misiones jungle, which is on Argentina’s border with Brazil. She departed after the birth of her son and has to rebuild a bond with the child she left behind, as well as her mother and the community with its hybrid languages and local customs. Her family question Ramira’s abandonment of her child and fight with her over her dead father’s inheritance.

The film is co-produced by Lukas V. Rinner’s Nabis Filmgroup, whose previous productions include Rinner’s “ Parabellum ” and its follow-up, “ A Decent Woman ,” as well as Argentine writer-director-producer Kuri’s first feature, “One Sister,” which examined the impact a woman’s disappearance has upon her family. It was selected for the Biennale College program that supports emerging filmmakers.

“Far From Us” is Bierbrauer’s directorial debut. “A feeling that extends itself in ‘Far From Us’ is best described by a word in German that has a double meaning: ‘Heimsuchen,’” the directors said in a joint statement about their film. “This means to ‘look for one’s home’ and ‘the home that haunts you’ at the same time. The characters of our film are guided by this double meaning and are motivated by the need to find their home in the present, even though a distant past clashes with finding their place of belonging.”

Take an exclusive first look at the trailer for “Far From Us.”