5 days ago
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Mexican producer Laura Imperiale at Cacerola Films, whose notable credits include the Oscar-nominated “The Crime of Father Amaro” starring Gael Garcia Bernal and dark comedy “Nicotina,” has boarded “Black Sheep, White Sheep,” the fiction feature debut of documentary filmmaker Flavio Florencio.
Drama centers on a romance between a white tourist and a young Caribbean man who, over the course of a fleeting 12-hour layover, confront their desires, vulnerabilities and the unspoken weight of privilege.
Set in a Caribbean landscape as stunning as it is conflicted, the film explores themes of racism, racialized desire, migration and tourism as a contemporary form of colonialism, while examining the fragile pursuit of connection between individuals shaped by deeply unequal worlds.
Through emotionally resonant dialogue and subtle social insight, “Black Sheep, White Sheep” explores themes of intimacy, inequality and the possibility of connection and transformation within the span of a single day, offering a socially conscious, gay Caribbean reimagining of Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise.”
Originally from Argentina and a long-time resident of Mexico, Florencio is best known for his award-winning documentary “Made in Bangkok,” which chronicles the emotional and transformative journey of Mexican transgender opera singer-actress Morgana Love as she travels to Thailand to undergo sex assignment surgery.
“After our first collaboration in ‘Made in Bangkok,’ I knew I wanted to keep working with Flavio. He has a perspective that’s provocative, unsettling—and urgently needed today. This story challenges privilege and brings to light issues that are rarely explored in Latin American cinema,” said Imperiale.
She joins Dominican producer-writer Ulla Prida, at Wooden Boat Prods. whose “Under the Same Sun” (“Bajo el mismo sol”), co-written and co-produced with director Ulises Porra, is being presented at Cannes’ Marché du Film. Prida first caught international attention with the acclaimed “Carajita” (2021), which she also co-wrote and produced with Porra. Porra took home the New Directors Award with co-director Silvina Schnicer at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2021, among other prizes.
“After ‘Carajita’ and ‘Bajo el mismo sol,’ I felt a deep need to explore a queer narrative within my own country — a subject that still suffers from a lack of visibility. I knew from the beginning it wouldn’t be easy, but I firmly believe that it’s up to us to drive those changes forward,” said Prida.
“Making a film takes years, so the message we choose to stand behind must be powerful and purposeful — something that truly matters and can help shift the conversation in the right direction,” she added.
This will be the first collaboration between the two producers who will tap their respective countries’ incentives.
“This film was born from a personal experience and a question that deeply unsettled me: how much of my desire has been shaped by history, race and privilege? I wanted to tell a love story, but I couldn’t do it from a place of innocence. With my background in documentary filmmaking, I listened to local voices and tried to understand their perspectives—because sexuality can be political and desire is never free from ideology,” said Florencio who related how the idea for the project began four years ago when he was invited to serve as a jury member at the country’s Santo Domingo Global Film Festival. He then made several research trips, working on the ground, interviewing motoconcho drivers and exploring the complex issue—”because tourism isn’t always cultural exchange; at times, it’s a disguised form of emotional colonialism,” he said.
Prida is joined by Lei González of Media Jíbara in the Dominican Republic while, on the Mexican side, Imperiale’s co-producers are Florencio and Ignacio Vázquez of Me Río de Janeiro Cine.
Casting is underway in New York and the Dominican Republic.
English (US) ·