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 [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (screened in the 2019 Berlinale Forum) and Tommy Guns [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Carlos Conceição
scheda film] (screened in Locarno in 2022 while competing for the Europa Cinemas Label). For the record, the filmmaker previously garnered significant acclaim for his short films Goodnight Cinderella and Bad Bunny, which were selected for Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2014 and 2017 respectively.

The cast stars American actor McCaul Lombardi (American Honey [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: Andrea Arnold
scheda film], Patti Cake$, Sollers Point [+leggi anche:
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scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Terry Gilliam
scheda film] and Crooked Lines [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Joana Ribeiro
scheda film]), the American actress of Romanian origin Elina Löwensohn (recently at her best in She Is Conann [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Bertrand Mandico
scheda film] and Don’t Let Me Die [+leggi anche:
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scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Caroline Deruas
scheda film], Love Affair(s) [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Emmanuel Mouret
scheda film]).

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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Marta Donzelli, Gregorio P…
intervista: Miguel Gomes
scheda film], Tabu [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Miguel Gomes
intervista: Miguel Gomes
scheda film] and Zama [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Lucrecia Martel
scheda film] and, this year, Sleepless City [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Guillermo Galoe
scheda film] and The Souffleur [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Gastón Solnicki
scheda film]).