Alfredo Castro to headline Argentine neo-horror femme drama 'Queen of the Woods'

Los Angeles [US], February 18 : Argentine director Lujan Loioco is preparing her third feature film, 'Queen of the Woods' ('Reina del Bosque'), starring actor Alfredo Castro, most recently seen in Pablo Larrain's Oscar-nominated 'El Conde,' and rising Argentine actor Delfina Chaves, as reported by Variety.
The plot takes place in a cabin situated against the snow-covered Patagonian highlands and is characterised as a 'neo-horror feminine film that explores the failed relationship between a pregnant woman and her dying father.'
Through the riveting mechanisms of thriller and neo-horror, the film delves deeply into the issue of sorrow while posing disquieting thoughts on the difficulties of parenthood.
Principal photography is set to begin in mid-2024 on a film that will serve as a monument to the rise of female filmmakers in Latin America, as well as their creative abilities.
"I have always felt drawn to narratives that offer a different approach to the idea of death. I believe in a less materialistic view of existence that provides a sense of continuity and can speak of death as just another part of life," said Loioco.
He added, "In that sense, 'Queen of the Woods' comes to dispel the most visceral fears that were awakened with my first motherhood; Silenced terrors closely linked to the feminine, loss, and everything we cannot control."
Julio Bove of Bosco Entertainment is producing the drama alongside NonStop Studios in Spain and Loioco's Libre Cine. Clara Larrain of Clara Films, a member of the Chilean delegation at Berlinale, and Cinefilm from Brazil have also joined the film's team, as per Variety.
"I've always been an admirer of Lujan Loioco's previous indie films," said Bove, adding, "Her vision, her fresh writing and directorial style as well as her handling of deep emotional conflicts with such strength and subtlety at the same time, inspired me to want to produce 'Queen of the Woods.'"
Loioco's 'About a Woman' ('Algo con una mujer,' 2020), which she co-directed with Mariano Turek, is a criminal thriller set in 1955 Argentina during a politically charged period, in which a seamstress-housewife is the sole witness to her neighbour's murder.
Her feature debut, 'The Girl with Yellow Heels' ('La nina de tacones amarillos,' 2015), follows a 15-year-old girl in a tiny town where a luxurious hotel has been built.
She begins working with her mother on the premises, where she takes advantage of the men's initially rejected advances.