French outfit Still Moving has joined forces with Switzerland’s GoldenEggProduction to co-produce “Tropical Malaise” (“Malestar tropical”), a Colombia-set drama project directed by Jorge Cadena, whose short “Flores del otro patio” snagged a Special Jury Award at 2023’s SXSW Film Festival.
“Tropical Malaise” features among the 14 projects being brought to market at San Sebastian’s 2024 Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum edition.
Produced by Gabriela Bussmann and Yan Decoppet at Geneva-based GoldenEggProduction, “Tropical Malaise” is at financing stage, planned for an early 2026 shoot.
Co-writers include Jacques Toulemonde, a co-scribe on Ciro Guerra’s Oscar-nominated “El abrazo de la serpiente” and director of Netflix’s “Historia de un Crimen – Mauricio Leal;” and the Colombian-born and Swiss-trained Cadena, alongside Juana del Río (“Goles en contra”) and “Flores del otro patio” co-scribe Li Aparicio Candama.
Deeply rooted in Colombian reality, “Tropical Malaise” addresses contemporary societal issues, exploring social, political, environmental, and gender (LGBTQIA+) themes.
The film turns on a group of queer activists teaming with indigenous communities near Colombia’s largest open-cast coal mine. They embark on a powerful and flamboyant struggle to defend their right to exist and protect their land from environmental degradation and cultural loss.
Attached to the cast are the actors who played in Jorge Cadena’s standout short “Flores del otro patio,” including León David Salazar, Eudes Rosado, Rubén Barrios Rodríguez, Saray Nohemi Rebolledo Ospino and Andru Suárez Rojas.
“Jorge Cadena’s visual language, enriched by vibrant Caribbean landscapes and extravagant, popular culture-inspired costumes, and infused with contagious activism, promises a unique work that resonates on a universal and contemporary scale, transcending Colombian borders,” said producers Bussmann and Decoppet.
“Tropical Malaise” has won development funds from Media Desk Switzerland.
Launched in 2012, GoldenEggProduction collaborates with filmmakers offering singular perspectives on contemporary society. Recent titles include Cannes’ ACID opening title, Maxime Rappaz’s “Laissez-moi” (“Let Me Go”) and EFA nominees “Flores del otro patio” and “Putin’s Witnesses,” by Vitaly Mansky.
Founded by Juliette Lepoutre and Pierre Menahem, Paris-based Still Moving titles include “Tiger Stripes,” a Grand Prix winner at the 2023 Cannes Critics Week; “Rule34,” a Locarno Golden Leopard winner in 2022; and “Mediterranean Fever,” which scooped best script at Cannes’ 2022 Un Certain Regard.
