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Karim Aïnouz’s “Motel Destino,” which began filming last week, has eroticism, a recurring element in his films, as the backdrop. The Match Factory is selling the international rights.

His eighth fiction feature marks a return to the director’s Brazilian roots after having shot his first English-language production, “Firebrand,” starring Alicia Vikander and Jude Law, which played in competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Aïnouz won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in 2019 for “Invisible Life.”

“Motel Destino” is an “intimate picture of a youth whose future has been stolen by a toxic and oppressive elite, against which rebellion and violence are often the only possible way out,” according to a press statement.

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“‘Motel Destino’ is, above all, a love story,” Aïnouz said. “The love between a peripheral young man who lives against a system that wants him dead and a woman who resists the attacks of patriarchy against her own life.”

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He added: “‘Motel Destino’ is the Brazilian saga of the encounter between a person on the run, utterly helpless, and another who is being crushed in an abusive marriage.”

The strong and vibrant colors of Ceará, the director’s home state in Brazil, set the visual and narrative tone of the new work, which features two local talents, Iago Xavier and Nataly Rocha — selected through auditions from more than 500 actors — in the lead roles, alongside the Emmy-nominated actor Fábio Assunção (“Songs of Betrayal”).

“I’m very interested in talking about crime, not sordid crime, but crime as the only escape from the place we are living in, the world we live in. How do you beat absolute helplessness? It’s a theme very present in contemporary Brazil. It’s not about being victimized, but rather completely marginalized,” Aïnouz says.

The narrative was born from Aïnouz’s partnership with the Script Laboratory of Porto Iracema das Artes, a school for technical and creative training for students from the public educational system, based in Fortaleza, where he serves as one of the mentors. It was there that many years ago he discovered and invited writer Wislan Esmeraldo to develop the script for the project. Later, Esmeraldo was joined by Mauricio Zacharias, who also worked on Aïnouz’s “Madame Satã” (Un Certain Regard, 2002) and “Love for Sale” (Venice Horizons, 2006).

Hélène Louvart, the cinematographer on “Invisible Life” and “Firebrand,” is on board the project, while Marcos Pedroso (“Madame Satã,” “Love for Sale,” “The Silver Cliff” and “Praia do Futuro”), another longtime collaborator of Aïnouz, is in charge of the production design.

Following “Motel Destino,” the director will shift his focus to “Rosebushpruning,” his second English-language project. The Match Factory, together with MUBI, announced it at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film will star Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”), Josh O’Connor (“The Crown”) and Elle Fanning (“The Great”), with production set to begin in spring 2024.

“Motel Destino” is produced by Cinema Inflamável and Gullane, in co-production with Globo Filmes, Telecine, Canal Brasil (Brazil), Maneki Films (France) and The Match Factory (Germany), and in association with Brouhaha Entertainment and Written Rock (U.K.).

Pandora Filmes is responsible for distribution in Brazil. The project is supported by the Department of Culture of the State of Ceará.

Aïnouz is represented by Lark Management and CAA.

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