07/03/2022 - Shooting has kicked off in the State of Colima on José Luis Yanes and Cecilia Guerrero’s Mexican-Italian co-production which probes the possibility of Neil Armstrong being Mexican

Having previously produced Glassboy [+see also:
interview: Emanuele Nespeca
film profile] by Samuele Rossi – a children’s film made with Swiss and Austrian partners, which won the ECFA Award in 2020 at the Black Nights Film Festival - Solaria Film has now announced that filming has commenced on the comedy Un Messicano sulla Luna, an international co-production by Mexico’s Arte Mecánica who are one of the leading names in the development and production of independent film in the Central American nation. The Federal Mexican Government in league with EFICINE are also involved in the project, alongside the Italian Ministry for Culture with its Minority Co-Productions Fund created in 2019.

Shooting on the film co-directed by José Luis Yanes and Cecilia Guerrero will continue until 28 March in Western Mexico’s State of Colima, toplined by Mexican actor Hector Jimenez (known for Super Nacho and the series Who Killed Sara?) and also starring Italy’s Alessio Lapice (revealed playing Romulus in Matteo Rovere’s Romulus & Remus – The First King [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], then in the TV series Imma Tataranni – Deputy Prosecutor and imminently gracing the cast of the Manetti Bros’ previously announced movies Diabolik 2 and Diabolik 3).

Jimenez steps into the shoes of journalist Simón who writes sensational stories by day for the local paper and waits tables in his wife’s restaurant by night. Simón is vying for a position as a columnist for a prestigious newspaper, all he needs to do is submit an article demonstrating his talent on the very same day as the Apollo 11 moon landing. While having dinner with friends, Simón unwittingly hears a story with the potential to earn him the columnist role, as well as the success and fame he’s always dreamed of. It turns out that Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, might actually be Mexican. Simón senses there might be some truth behind the rumour and sees in it a chance to win the coveted job but also his father’s longed-for approval. Joined by his partner in crime Carlo (Alessio Lapice), Simón decides to set off for a small city in southern Jalisco called Llano Grande, in a bid to find out the truth about the man we call Neil Armstrong.

The screenplay underpinning Un Messicano sulla Luna was written by Francis Levy Lavalle, based upon recently deceased Manuel Sánchez de la Madrid’s book of the same name. Photography is by Hector Ortega (Tommy Lee Jones’ The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada), editing is that of Marco Guelf (Nest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mattia Temponi
film profile]), and music comes courtesy of Camilla Uboldi.

Un Messicano sulla Luna - explains Solaria Film’s Emanuele Nespeca – is an important opportunity to reiterate our company’s commitment to collaborating in projects with Latin America. The great quality of this project means that the film has everything it needs to attract the attention of critics and be selected for international festivals, which will help to increase its exposure, thereby ensuring enhanced circulation and sales”.

(Translated from Italian)