aThe thriller Motel Destino, a new feature film by Karim Aïnouz, will have its premiere in Brazil at the opening of the 52nd Gramado Film Festival. The project debuted worldwide in the competitive exhibition at the Cannes Festival, where it was applauded for more than twelve minutes by spectators. According to the Vanity Fair, the film, which competed for the Palme d’Or, was the “sexiest film at Cannes”.
“It is a great joy to present Motel Destino in Gramado. After so many years away from Brazil, even longer away from Ceará, putting this film out into the world is, for me, an immense happiness. The last few years have been very difficult, in which we survived a pandemic and a fascist government. Motel Destino is an ode to desire as the engine of life”, celebrates the director.
Filmed entirely in Ceará, Motel Destino is named after a location on a roadside on the coast of Ceará, the scene of dangerous games of desire, power and violence. One night, the arrival of a young man definitively transforms daily life at the motel. The boy on the run, totally vulnerable, crosses paths with a woman trapped by the dynamics of an abusive marriage. Starring Fabio Assunção, Iago Xavier and Nataly Rocha, the Brazil, France and Germany co-production has a script by Karim Aïnouz, Mauricio Zacharias and Wislan Esmeraldo.
A recurring element in Aïnouz’s filmography, eroticism is the backdrop of Motel Destino. The strong and vibrant colors of the northeastern coast provide the visual-narrative tone of the new work, the director’s first project shot entirely in Ceará since O Céu de Suely (2006). The roadside establishment that gives the film its title is, according to him, “the main character of the plot and the place where chronic issues of Brazilian reality intersect”. The film is an intimate portrait of a youth who had their future stolen by a toxic and overwhelming elite, against which insubordination and revolts are, not infrequently, the possible solution.
For curator Marcos Santuario, the choice reaffirms Gramado as a national showcase for Brazilian works renowned abroad. “Karim needs no introduction. With his works, this powerful director has left his mark on Brazilian audiovisual since the 1990s and brings the best of our cinema to the world’s screens. Madame Satã, O Céu de Suely, Praia do Futuro and A Vida Invisível are just a few records from Aïnouz’s extensive filmography. Motel Destino is a film that caused a sensation abroad, in Cannes, and repeats a little what we have done in previous years, opening Gramado with Brazilian films that have been exponents abroad”.
Santuario also comments on the happiness of having one of the greatest Brazilian directors bringing his new project to open Gramado: “Karim, with his film, shows a little of what the world is seeing about Brazilian cinema. Applauding and rewarding. For us, it is a huge honor to have a film by one of the greatest contemporary Brazilian directors, who is applauded and revered at other very important festivals around the world, opening this edition of the Gramado Festival”, he states.
The feature film will only be screened on the opening night of the 52nd Gramado Film Festival, August 9th, out of competition. The event program runs until August 17th.
In brazilian theaters, Motel Destino opens on August 22, distributed by Pandora Filmes.
Synopsis: Under the burning sky on a roadside on the coast of Ceará, the Motel Destino is the scene of dangerous games of desire, power and violence. One night, the arrival of young Heraldo definitively transforms the daily life of the place.
