‘Utama’ Producers Reteam for Marcos Loayza’s ‘Los Abrazos’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Anna Marie de la Fuente The producers of Sundance world dramatic competition entry “Utama,” Bolivia’s Alma Films and Uruguay’s LaMayorCine, have re-teamed for “Los Abrazos” (“The Embrace”), the sixth fiction feature of Marcos Loayza.The father of “Utama” director Alejandro Loayza Grisi and a lauded filmmaker in Bolivia, Loayza’s credits include his career-launching 1995 drama “A Question of Faith” (“Cuestion de Fe),” adventure pic “Averno” and the docu series “Planet Bolivia” where his son served as DP.“’Los Abrazos’ is in quite an advanced phase and we hope to shoot it by the end of this year or early next,” said Federico Moreira of LaMayorCine who is hoping to enlist an Argentine co-producer for the drama which they expect to film on location in Bolivia, Uruguay and Argentina.

Alejandro Loayza Grisi will likely serve as DP. Alma Film’s Santiago Loayza Grisi is Alejandro’s brother. “There’s a good energy among the father and sons, they work well together,” said Moreira who is also a sound director on “Utama” and whose more than 30 years old award-winning post-production house also owns and operates Uruguay’s first and only Dolby-certified sound mixing room and four recording studios.“In the past five years or so, since we launched the Dolby sound mixing room, we have participated in around 100 films,” said Moreira.“Los Abrazos” pivots on an exile who, after some two decades away, sets out on a return journey to his homeland in a bid to recapture his memories of home.

This prompts his son to travel from the capital to the border to meet up with his father. Both embark on their journeys for different reasons, one to recover his past and the other to find himself.LaMayorCine has several other films in development.