Breaking Glass Pictures to bring TIFF's Santa & Andres to North America

Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to Carlos Lechuga's (MELAZA) controversial Cuban LGBT/drama SANTA & ANDRÉS. Breaking Glass acquired North American rights to the film in May in a deal negotiated between Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff and Habanero Film Sales CEO Alfredo Calvino at the Marche du Film during the Cannes Film Festival. Breaking Glass is planning a limited theatrical release followed by DVD/VOD early in the 4th Quarter of 2017.

SANTA & ANDRÉS has been at the center of much controversy during its festival run. The film held its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, but was immediately banned in Cuba and was also pulled from competition at the Havana Film Festival New York. Despite the adversity, the film has played over thirty festivals including the Guadalajara International Film Festival, the San Sebastian International Film Festival, and the Miami International Film Festival where it won Best Performance. SANTA & ANDRÉS will screen at Frameline later in 2017.

Set during a time of political turmoil and oppression, this LGBT/drama stars Lola Amores, Eduardo Martinez, and Cesar Dominguez. The film's production team includes Producer Carlos Lechuga; Co-Producers Samuel Chauvin and Gustavo Pazmin; Associate Producer Alejandro Tovar; and Executive Producer Claudia Calvino.

SANTA & ANDRÉS takes place in the rural mountain region of Eastern Cuba where Andrés - a noncompliant gay writer in his fifties - resides after he has been blacklisted by the government for having "ideological problems". After a big event occurs and, someone reliable must be appointed to watch over him and make sure he does not get out and make any public political statement. Santa - a country girl in her thirties who works in a farm - is assigned to the task. For three days in a row, Santa will sit in front of Andrés' hut and keep watch on him. Santa and Andrés are as close as it gets of being true opposites and are not meant to like each other. What they cannot imagine, however, is that they have more things in common than they expect.

The film is written and directed by Carlos Lechuga. Born in Havana, Lechuga is a Graduate from Havana's Instituto Superior de Arte, and continued his training at the International Film and TV School in San Antonio de los Baños, specializing in scriptwriting. As a director he has made several award-winning shorts such as LOS BAÑISTAS (The Swimmers) in 2010 and CUCA Y EL POLLO (Cuca and the Chicken) in 2006. As a scriptwriter, he has participated of five feature films: CLUB HABANA (Havana Club), winner of the Unpublished Script Award at the International No-Budget Film Festival; EL EDÉN PERDIDO (The Lost Eden), which won the Audience Award at the first edition of Films for TV Festival, in Malaga and PENUMBRAS (Shadows), Best Feature Award at the Puerto Rico International Film Festival in 2013. MELAZA, his first feature film as a writer-director, premiered in Rotterdam and won several national and international awards along its festival tour. Among them, it was elected Best Latin American Feature at Málaga Film Festival, in Spain and in 2013 it also won the Newcomer of the Year Prize, Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival's main award. SANTA & ANDRÉS is his second feature film.

"I think the appeal of this film is that it poses relevant and universal questions: how is it possible to hate someone you don't know just because he views the world from a different perspective and how we can overcome our differences in the name of tolerance", said Alfredo Calvino, CEO of Habanero Film Sales. "We are very pleased to team up once again with our friends from Breaking Glass, this time to help Santa & Andres reach a wider audience in North America."

"After the film was banned in Cuba, and after seeing it play at TIFF, we were determined to bring the complete and uncensored version of Santa & Andres to audiences", said Rich Wolff, CEO of Breaking Glass.

SANTA & ANDRÉS

Genre: Drama/LGBT

Running Time: 105

Rating: NR

Language: Spanish

Cast: Lola Amores, Eduardo Martinez, Cesar Dominguez

Luna Tinoco, George Abreu, Ederlys Rodriguez Perez, Maikel Alexi Sanchez

Director: Carlos Lechuga

Written by: Eliseo Altunaga, Carlos Lechuga

Producer: Carlos Lechuga

Co-Producers: Samuel Chauvin, Gustavo Pazmin

Associate Producer: Alejandro Tovar

Executive Producer: Claudia Calvino

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