Morena Films to produce portmanteau feature with seven leading directors

Spanish outfit Morena Films and French company Full House are set to co-produce the Spanish-language project, written by Cuban writer Leonardo Padura will shoot in Havana, Cuba from January next year with each film-maker providing a story about Havana citizens whose lives interweave.

Actor Del Toro makes his directorial debut, while the additional directors will be Elia Suleiman (The Time That Remains) and Juan Carlos Tabio (Guantanamera).

The confirmed cast so far consists of Vladimir Cruz (Che: Part One), Jorge Perugorria (Che), Mirta Ibarra (Guantanamera) and Ana de armas (Sex, Party & Lies).

Production duties will be shared between Morena Films’ Alvaro Longoria and Full House’s Laurent Baudens, Didar Dohmeri and Gael Nouaille, and documentary film-maker Fabien Pisani.

“We really think this is the right time to take this look at the city of Havana and its people, on the verge of a deep transformation, nothing will be the same in a couple of years,” Morena Films’ Longoria told Screen Daily. “The film will portray the special nature of a time captured metropolis where everyone has various lives and everyone ends up meeting up.”

Longoria added: “We also feel the effort of having these seven directors collaborate to make their characters and plots cross into each others’ lives is quite different.”

Morena Films has recently scored success with Cell 211, starring Alberto Ammann and Luis Tosar, which made more than $10m in Spain and is due to be remade in the US, and Iciar Bollain’s Even The Rain, which has been submitted as Spain’s entry for the foreign-language Oscar.

Full House was founded last year by producers Laurent Baudens, Didar Dohmeri and Gael Nouaille. Aside from 7 Days In Havana they have a busy slate of projects in development including Bouncer, which is a co-production with Morena Films and UK outfit Clubdeal, based on a popular Western comic book by Alejandro Jodorowsky, which will shoot in Spain, and Carlos Moreno’s film Aguas Negras, a co-production with Spain’s Alta Films.

Morena Films expect 7 Days In Havana to be ready for release by Autumn next year and will announce the sales agent attached to the project soon.