EXCLUSIVE: Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Close Your Eyes (Cerrar los ojos) by Spanish director Victor Erice and is planning a theatrical release in late summer.
An official selection of Cannes, Toronto, NYFF, San Sebastian and BFI London film festivals and winner of a special citation from the national society of film critics, it opens theatrically in New York and LA in August, followed by digital and home entertainment releases.
Close Your Eyes is Erice’s first film in more than three decades after 1992 Cannes award-winner Dream Of Light. He launched his career with 1973’s The Spirit Of The Beehive.
Close Your Eyes follows the mysterious disappearance of a famous Spanish actor Julio Arenas on a film shoot. His body is never found but the police conclude that he’s been the victim of an accident on a cliff by the sea. Years later, his disappearance is highlighted on a television show with exclusive images of his last scenes. Stars Manolo Solo (The Fury Of A Patient Man), Jose Coronado (No Rest For The Wicked), who won a Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Ana Torrent (Thesis, The Other Boleyn Girl, El nido), who reunited with Erice 50 years after appearing at age five in The Spirit Of The Beehive.
Early this year, the National Society of Film Critics awarded it a special citation for a film awaiting U.S. distribution.
The deal was led by Film Movement President Michael Rosenberg, and Vicente Canales, managing director of Film Factory, on behalf of the filmmakers.
“Much has been written by the critics since Cannes praising Victor Erice’s Close Your Eyes, and it is indeed one of the cinematic events of the year for cinephiles. This deeply moving mystery about the nature of memory, identity and cinema, itself, further cements Erice as one of our most profound masters of the medium. We could not be more proud to release the film,” Rosenberg said.
Film Movement has also recently acquired Sisi & I, starring Sandra Huller; Eureka from Argentinian director Lisandro Alonso; Bertrand Bonello’s drama Coma; In The Rearview, Maciek Hamela’s Ukrainian war documentary; Jessica Hausner’s dark comedy Club Zero, currently in theaters; and 20,000 Species Of Bees, a 2022 Silver Bear winner from Spain and winner of three Goya awards.