A "body horror" parody about the cult-like and globalised ideals associated with the troubling search for physical perfection by way of plastic surgery, Carlos Conceição’s Bodyhackers is currently in post-production, with French firm Reel Suspects, directed by Matteo Lovadina, having just acquired world sales rights.

This is the third feature film by the Portuguese director of Angolan origin after Serpentarius [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] (screened in the 2019 Berlinale Forum) and Tommy Guns [+lire aussi :
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interview : Carlos Conceição
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The cast stars American actor McCaul Lombardi (American Honey [+lire aussi :
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Q&A : Andrea Arnold
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fiche film]), Portugal’s Joana Ribeiro (the European Film Promotion’s Shooting Star of 2020 who was also well-received in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote [+lire aussi :
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interview : Terry Gilliam
fiche film] and Crooked Lines [+lire aussi :
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interview : Joana Ribeiro
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interview : Bertrand Mandico
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fiche film], to name two movies) and Portugal’s Alba Baptista (of the Netflix series Warrior Nun and Amelia’s Children). They’re joined by Dinarte de Freitas, Ivo Arroja and Jenna Thiam (Daydreams [+lire aussi :
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interview : Caroline Deruas
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interview : Emmanuel Mouret
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Written by the director himself, the story follows environmental activist Denver Blake who has decided to expose a cosmetics corporation that he believes is exploiting the insecurities caused by societal beauty standards. However, when he falls in love with Renée, a former ballerina obsessed with constantly enhancing her beauty, he becomes drawn into a mesmerizing underworld of plastic surgery, where healing flesh induces a permanent state of sexual arousal, multiple mutants seduce him in dark gardens, and constant metamorphoses and transcendental cures exude the hypnotic allure of a cult which even he cannot resist. Will he continue his fight, or join Renée in this endless spiral of pain and transformation?

Bodyhackers is produced by the filmmaker and by António Gonçalves on behalf of Portuguese firm Mirabilis, and draws on the talents of director of photography Rui Poças (Grand Tour [+lire aussi :
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interview : Marta Donzelli et Gregorio…
interview : Miguel Gomes
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interview : Miguel Gomes
interview : Miguel Gomes
fiche film] and Zama [+lire aussi :
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interview : Lucrecia Martel
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interview : Guillermo Galoe
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interview : Gastón Solnicki
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