U.S. HISPANIC
Navajo Films: We are working on Menem’s biopic with Claxson, Porno y Helado 2, and a documentary about Toquinho with Intro Pictures from Brazil
Maribel Ramos-Weiner| 5 de julio de 2023
Lucas Vivo de Navajo Films
The Argentinian production house Navajo Films has several projects underway, including the biopic series Menem (8×50′) with Claxson and the second season of the comedy Porno y Helado, both for Amazon; the documentary on the Brazilian artist Toquinho with Intro Pictures of Brazil, and it’s also developing two films -a thriller and a comedy- with the author Julián Loyola. In addition, Navajo Films is working on a comedy series that has captured the interest of “several important players” according to Lucas Vivo García Lago, founder and general manager of Navajo Films.
Regarding Menem, Vivo García said that the project, directed by the Argentine Ariel Winograd, will complete recordings on August 11 and will premiere on Amazon in 2024.
“Navajo Films is like a production arm of our partner Claxson to provide them support and production logistics that is our specialty. Claxson was debuting with its first major fiction and that’s where we came in to support them to carry it forward. We are happy to work with Claxson, it is a company we have known for many years, and for me, this came to be in a totally organic and natural way,” Vivo expressed.
He explained that the project, promoted by Mariano Varela of Claxson in 2021, once the permits, rights, and authorizations were obtained, Mariano reached an agreement with Amazon and put together a development team to write the episodes. “That took almost a year and a half and filming began in June of this year in Argentina in locations such as Casa Rosada, the entire political universe, and also La Rioja where Carlos Menem is from.”
Navajo Films is also working on the second season of the comedy Porno y Helado (6×30′), created by Martín Piroyansky in which he stars alongside Ignacio Saralegui and Sofía Morandi. “It goes into production in the second semester, around August and September. We are already kicking off a soft pre-production,” he said.
“We are always happy to do second seasons because it is the best way to know that you had a success story. This is the second time this has happened to the Navajo. The first was with Psiconautas and now we are happy to continue Porno y Helado, which for us refreshes Argentine comedy a bit with talents like Martín Piroyansky. It’s good to support these talents and open up the spectrum of younger creators and filmmakers who have been asking for a chance for a long time and working hard to get these opportunities. We’re hoping for more seasons with this project,” he commented.
Regarding the documentary film by the Brazilian artist Toquinho (1×80′), Vivo said that it is the first project that Navajo and Intro Pictures have made as owners of the intellectual property, and it is the first distribution exercise between them. “We did not sell it before filming, it is a different exercise for this project in which we take charge of production and distribution. I think this will also work for feature films now that the offer is more restricted for Argentina due to the country’s economic problems. I think there is a return to the model of producers who get the money, film, executes, and after finishing the project, they distribute it themselves,” he pointed out.
Toquinho’s project “would be the first documentary on the life of one of the greatest artists responsible for the golden age of Brazilian music, along with Maria Bethânia and Gilberto Gil,” he pointed out.
“From Navajo, we continue working with our content development department. Now we are writing two films with Julián Loyola, an author we like very much. We teamed up with Loyola to write a comedy and a thriller, and at the same time, we’re working on a comedy series with our development team, about which we asked around and caught the attention of a number of major players. We are finishing adjusting a mini pitch bible to increase their interest in our presentation and we should have news at some point this year,” he concluded.
