RITA: Shudder Announces Acquisition of Jayro Bustamante's Fantasy

Thirteen-year-old Rita (Giuliana Santa Cruz) finds herself incarcerated in an all-girls protective custody facility, after fleeing a horrendously abusive home life to seek freedom in the city. The girls in her overcrowded section tell of a prophecy, that a warrior angel will arrive to free them all from a life of destitution, incarceration, and enforced prostitution. When she’s handed a pair of wings of her own, which all the girls in her quarters wear too, it’s up to Rita to work out whether she will fulfil the prophecy, and if so, how far she’s prepared to go to let the outside world know what’s really going on at the facility. Fantasia website

AMC Networks’ genre streamer Shudder has acquired the fantasy pic Rita from Jayro Bustamante, the writer-director behind its Golden Globe-nominated La Llorona, ahead of the film’s Fantasia Film Festival world premiere. Starring Giuliana Santa Cruz, Bustamante’s fourth feature will release on the platform on November 22.

 

Also starring Alejandra Vasquez, Ángela Quevedo, Isabel Aldana, Sabrina De La Hoz, Margarita Kénefic and Maria Telón, the fim’s cast of child actors is composed of Guatemalan first-time performers who were selected to join the production following a national casting call that resulted in over 5,000 applications. The select few who appear worked collectively alongside Bustamante to build their characters’ backgrounds and advised on elements of the film’s use of magical realism.

 

“Working with Shudder from the beginning felt like the right connection, as I found a distributor that shares the belief that cinema is more than just entertainment or a commercial product,” Bustamante told Deadline. “Since we launched LA LLORONA, Shudder has shown a great ability to handle my films, making them available to viewers through various channels, recognizing that the genre in cinema can be used to generate a powerful, positive, and thought-provoking social impact.”

 

Stated Shudder’s SVP of Acquisitions and Production Emily Gotto, “We are so proud to continue our work with Jayro, who has proven time and again to be a fearless filmmaker whose dedication to his homeland has put a spotlight on the rich talent and complicated history of Guatemala. RITA again demonstrates Jayro’s deft handling of the horror genre as a catalyst for powerful storytelling, and we can’t wait for the film to leave an impact on audiences.” via Deadline