Based on Salome by Oscar Wilde, Love Me Not [+lire aussi :
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interview : Lluís Miñarro
fiche film], the screenplay for which was written by its director, Lluís Miñarro (who previously helmed films such as Falling Star [+lire aussi :
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interview : Luis Miñarro
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interview : Juan Barrero
fiche film] and Les Unwanted de Europa [+lire aussi :
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The shoot started in Cardona, in the province of Barcelona, and subsequently shifted to Mexico – first to the Chihuahuan Desert, and later to the country’s capital city. Principal photography wrapped on 15 June. The film is now in the middle of post-production, and the aim is to have it ready in 2019 and for it to take part in various film festivals prior to its theatrical release.

The movie’s characters will be played by Ingrid García-Jonsson, Francesc Orella, Lola Dueñas, Óliver Laxe, Luis Alberti, Fausto Alzati, Hugo Catalán, Lu Colomina and Gabriel Ventura. “The idea came about as a response to the brutality of Abu Ghraib during the Iraq War,” remarked the filmmaker, who is using this setting as a “metaphor in order to get to the crux of the matter: the fact that repression breeds monsters”.

Divided into two parts, the film begins in 2006 and follows a military detachment in the Middle East, while the rest of the story takes place in the present day. Salome (García-Jonsson), a solider in this particular army, crosses paths with Yokanaan (Laxe), a prisoner locked up in a high-security jail, and considered a terrorist by some people and a prophet by others. The desert where the action unfolds turns into an ambiguous theatre where seduction, eroticism and violence intertwine.

Love Me Not (No m’estimis in its original Catalan title), which boasts cinematography by Santiago Racaj (Can’t Say Goodbye [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]), is a production by Lluís Miñarro and Piano Producciones Cinematográficas (Mexico), in cooperation with TVC, and with backing from ICEC (the Catalan Institute for Cultural Companies) and EFICINE. Its Spanish distribution will be handled by Eddie Saeta from spring 2019 onwards, and its international sales are managed by French sales agent Reel Suspects.