I can't say I'm familiar with Bolivian cinema, but if filmmaker Rodrigo Bellott gets his way it sounds like horror fans could have a number of Bolivian horror films to look forward to. Having fallen in love with the genre when he produced Jim Mickle's WE ARE WHAT WE ARE remake, Bellott has made his horror directing debut with the film BLOOD RED OX and says this
will be the first of several planned horror thrillers set against the backdrop of Bolivia’s ecosystems. … We are looking forward to creating a haven for elevated commercial films in Bolivian locations with high production values, under a sustainable co-production model. We are currently in development on the next two installments of the trilogy that begins with BLOOD RED OX. I want people to see Bolivia as a source of talent, locations and opportunities; it’s relatively inexpensive to shoot here."
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Inspired by a tragic fire that nearly destroyed the forest in Tarija, Bolivia in 2017 (two years before most of the Bolivian Amazon Forest was destroyed in a fire this year), BLOOD RED OX follows
Amir, a Lebanese-American journalist, and his boyfriend Amat, who visit Amir’s environmentalist friend Amancaya in the town of Tarija who is being threatened by an oil company that wants to exploit the Bolivian rain forest. The visit takes a strange turn when Amat starts imagining a blood red ox in the house.
Bellott says
The most interesting films these days are genre, they’re the most inventive, where people are taking more risks. … I realized the endless possibilities that these kinds of films present in terms of addressing political and social issues in a far more accessible and playful way. Just as Jordan Peele did for black leads in GET OUT and US, I hope to do the same for queer leads in elevated Latin American genre films. I aim to make impactful, intelligent movies with commercial appeal."
It's good to hear how much respect Bellott has for genre filmmaking, so I hope he really will be able to get a wave of Bolivian horror films started.
We'll keep you updated on BLOOD RED OX and Bellott's future genre endeavors when more details are made available.
Bellott produced BLOOD RED OX through his company Narrative Engineer, alongside Rodrigo A. Orozco and Gunnar Pareja. Andrea Camponovo, Kaolin Bass, and Chile's Yagan Films, led by Matias Echeverria, served as co-producers. The film was executive produced by Bernardo Ratto and Bolivian financiers Virginio and Beto Lema.
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