Havana-set drama ‘Viva’, produced by Treasure Entertainment and directed by Paddy Breathnach, will be presented to market buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
Mongrel Media International will handle international sales while XYZ Films and Submarine will represent US and Canadian rights. ARP Selection will distribute Viva in France.
Directed by Paddy Breathnach (‘Man About Dog’), ‘Viva’ is written by Mark O’Halloran (‘Adam and Paul’) who also stars in the film. The majority of the film was shot in Havana and there was also a short shoot in Dublin. The project is supported by the Irish Film Board, Windmill Lane Pictures, RTÉ and Treasure Entertainment. It is produced by Robert Walpole, Rebecca O'Flanagan (both of Treasure Entertainment) and Cathleen Dore.
Key crew members include DoP Cathal Watters, Production Designer Paki Smith and editor Stephen O'Connell.
Aside from O’Halloran, the film also features Jorge Perugorría (‘Strawberries and Chocolate’), Luis Alberto García (‘Che’) and Hector Medina.
Set in Cuba, ‘Viva’ tells the story of Jesus, an eighteen year old Cuban, who is lost and struggling to realize his true identity. Unsure of himself or his future, he works at a local Havana drag club where he entertains dreams of becoming a performer. At home he finds solace listening to the records his mother and grandmother left him: romantic torchsongs by the great names of Latin music. Into his life, however, comes a force to challenge his direction and tentative freedom: his long lost father, a celebrated boxer, released from a 15 year prison term having killed someone in a street brawl when Jesus was a child. Through this uneasy relationship, ‘Viva’ becomes a tender love story between father and son as both men struggle to understand each other and escape the burden of expectation, duty and past sins.
