‘The Good Girls’ Mexican Producer Woo Films and Colectivo Colmena Ink Three-Pic Deal (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Anna Marie de la Fuente Woo Films, one of Mexico’s most successful indie companies behind such hit titles as Manolo Caro’s Netflix series “The House of Flowers” and lauded dramas “The Good Girls” (“Las Niñas Bien”) and “Los Adioses,” has teamed up with film collective Colectivo Colmena, to develop and produce three pics.

Two of them are based on original ideas from Colmena and the third an adaptation of a Mexican novel. Woo Films is taking “The Ballad of the Phoenix” (“La balada del fénix”), the first stop-motion animation feature by Cinema Fantasma (“Frankelda’s Book of Spooks”), to participate in the Guadalajara Film Festival’s co-production forum.

This is one of three stop motion animation projects from Cinema Fantasma that Woo Films boarded last year. “It is essential to support the growth of new voices in Mexican cinema to boost their visibility at a time when resources for independent film production and exhibition opportunities are scarce,” Woo Films producer Mario Savino pointed out, adding: “Combining our capabilities with the extraordinary talent of Colmena feels like a natural step in our quest to continue generating unique, plural and relevant stories.” Colectivo Colmena was founded by a group of independent filmmakers, led by Mauricio Calderon Rico, Fernanda Tovar, José Pablo Escamilla, Francisco Borrajo and Daniel Loustaunau, in a bid to pool their funding and creative resources as well as prompt conversations about the issues currently affecting Mexican society.

Among their films are Calderon Rico’s coming-of-age drama, “Todos los incendios” and youth comedy “Lumbren sueño” by Escamilla.