Neon Takes U.S. Rights To ‘Monos’ – Sundance

Neon has acquired U.S. rights to Monos, from director Alejandro Landes, which world premiered Saturday night in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance.

The thriller features a score by Mica Levi, who did Under the Skin and Jackie. It will have its international premiere at the Berlinale in Panorama in February.

Monos is described as a “survivalist saga” tracking a young group of soldiers and rebels training on a remote mountain in Latin America with an American hostage played by Julianne Nicholson. The teenage commandos, who have nicklnames like Rambo, Smurg, Bigfoot, Wolf and Boom-Boom, perform military training exercises while watching over a prisoner and a conscripted dairy cow for a shadow force know only as The Organization. After an ambush drives the squadron into the jungle, the mission begins to collapse.

Landres co-wrote the film’s screenplay with Alexis Dos Santos. The producers are Landes & Fernando Epstein as well as Santiago Zapata and Cristina Landes. The cast features Nicholson as well as Moisés Arias, Sofia Buenaventura, Deiby Rueda, Karen Quintero and Laura Castrillón.

The deal was negotiated by NEON with UTA Independent Film Group and Le Pacte on behalf of the filmmakers. The film is a Le Pacte presentation of a Stela Cine production made with the support of Caracol Televisión. It was co-produced by Lemming Film (The Netherlands), Campo Cine (Argentina), Pandora (Germany), SnowGlobe (Denmark), Film I Väst (Sweden) and Mutante Cine (Uruguay).

“Making Monos was a life-changing adventure for myself and the team,” Landes said. “We could not be more excited by the reception at Sundance and the fact that Neon showed so much passion and understanding for the spirit of the film. We all look forward to collaborating with them on the release in the U.S.”

Camille Neel of Le Pacte said, “MONOS is a one-of-a-kind film and there is no one better to release this in the US than NEON.  We are thrilled to partner with them and also happy to work with the UTA Independent Film Group on making this happen.”

Neon’s other activities at Sundance include premieres of Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11 and John Chester’s The Biggest Little Farm.