15/04/2008

La teta asustada (“The Frightened Breast”), the new film by Peruvian-born, Barcelona-based director Claudia Llosa, has finished shooting and is about to enter post-production. However, the date of the film’s domestic release by Wanda Visión has yet to be announced.

Llosa has used the same winning formula as for her debut film Madeinusa, which enjoyed great success at numerous festivals. The film is thus a majority Spanish production with a stylised direction characteristic of western cinema, but whose themes and narrative are reminiscent of Andean culture.

La teta asustada has a budget of €1.1m and is co-produced by Spanish companies Wanda Visión (40% investment) and Oberon Cinematográfica (40%) and Peru’s Vela Producciones (20%), which is owned by Llosa. The film also received backing from the Spanish Culture Ministry, ICIC, Ibermedia, Conacine, the Berlinale World Cinema Fund, the Swiss Visions Sud Est fund and CDA.

The film was shot entirely in Lima (Peru) and stars young actress Magaly Solier.

The film tells the story of Fausta, a young woman who suffers from a rare condition called La Teta Asustada (“The Frightened Breast”), which is carried in the breast milk of women who were raped during gestation and lactation in the time of terrorism. This atavistic terror is passed down from generation to generation and Fausta’s suffering takes the form of nosebleeds in moments of crisis.

The young woman is also keeping a secret that she doesn’t want to reveal until her mother’s sudden death forces her to find a way out of the labyrinth both within and without herself.

La teta asustada was first presented in the Focus Europe section of the New Cinema Network (the co-production market launched by the RomeFilmFest) and the film’s international sales are being handled by German company The Match Factory.