02/10/2024 - The acclaimed Argentinian director will make a belated sequel to his breakthrough 2001 feature La Libertad, following the same character through a changed world

Director Lisandro Alonso

After the complex, multi-continent production of his underrated last feature, Eureka [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lisandro Alonso
film profile], Lisandro Alonso is returning to his roots, planning a direct sequel to La libertad, the 2001 film that originally put him on the map. La libertad doble, which is slated for an early 2025 shoot, will follow Misael, the original’s lead character, continuing life in the woods as an independent logger, where he enjoys a “quiet freedom”; then, this relative liberty is disrupted when he’s forced to care for his older sister, and the sense of reason underpinning his life unravels. It is also set to recapture the exacting, minimalist style that defined Alonso’s early work and examine the “evolving concept of freedom” in the modern world.

Alonso’s own 4L (Argentina) will produce in an elaborate co-production with Ilse Hughan, of the Netherlands’ Fortuna Films; Fernando Bascuñán, of Chile’s Planta; and Augusto Matte, of the UK’s Deptford Film. Luxembourg-based Les Films Fauves is also a co-producer. Germany’s The Match Factory has secured backing from the World Cinema Fund, an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlinale. Given the unsteady economic climate in Argentina, the production is seeking further partners to bring the film’s vision to life. Hughan, Basucñán and Matte elaborated in a statement, “Securing the necessary gap financing has become a crucial step in moving forward with the project. The need for additional funding is not just a financial requirement, but also a strategic decision to maintain the film’s independence and creative integrity.”

Premiering in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, fittingly, at the beginning of the 21st century, La libertad helped collapse the difference between fiction and documentary in film practice, influencing a generation of directors to come, who especially populate Berlin and Locarno’s more experimental selections. He began a steady evolution, bringing more geographical expanse in 2004’s Los Muertos and 2008’s Liverpool, before making Viggo Mortensen his muse in the pseudo-western Jauja [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which brought further international attention to his work. A surreal panorama of global indigenous life, Eureka premiered quietly in 2023’s Cannes Premiere section, but has steadily won admirers across its run, setting the stage nicely for Alonso’s return to the inception of his career.