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MOTEL DESTINO

• Director: Karim Aïnouz
• BRAZIL, FRANCE, GERMANY / 2024 / DCP / Colour / 115’ / Portuguese; Turkish, English s.t.

• Screenplay: Wislan Esmeraldo, Karim Aïnouz, Mauricio Zacharias
• Director of Photography: Hélène Louvart
• Editing: Nelly Quettier
• Music: Amine Bouhafa
• Cast: Iago Xavier, Nataly Rocha, Fabio Assunção, Renan Capivara, Fabíola Líper, Isabela Catão, Yuri Yamamoto, Davi Santos, Jupyra Carvalho, Bertrand de Courville, Katiana Monteiro, Vanessa Cardoso, Jan Moreira, Edglê Lima Moreira
• Producer: Janaina Bernardes, Fabiano Gullane, Caio Gullane, André Novis, Didar Domehri, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen, Gabrielle Tana, Hélène Theodoly
• Production Co.: Cinema Inflamável, Gullane
• World Sales: The Match Factory

’The sexiest film at Cannes’ according to Variety critics, Motel Destino is a terrifically acted neo-noir, an intense erotic thriller that reminds Body Heat. The film follows three characters – Elias, his wife Dayana, and young criminal Heraldo – doomed to their destinies at the Motel Destino, a roadside sex hotel in the northeastern coast of Brazil. Seeking refuge here after a botched hit, Heraldo disrupts the established order of the motel, which turns out to be a claustrophobic purgatory, a seemingly safe hell pit seared by relentless heat and ceaseless screams of pleasure. The latest film by Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz, who has won the Special Prize of the Jury at Istanbul Film Festival with Mariner of the Mountains in 2022, is a vibrant ’tropical noir’ whose neon-palette, visual storytelling heightens both narrative and erotic tension.

Strobe light effects might disturb some viewers.

* In accordance with Article 7 of the Law No. 5224 amended on 18.01.2019, cinema films that have not been reviewed and classified can only be screened in festivals, special screenings and similar cultural and artistic events with an 18+ age restriction.

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.