Mexico’s Tulip Pictures, formerly Barraca Prods., is opening offices in Austin, Texas and Spain as it seeks to tap their respective incentives and foster new co-productions.
Both places offer vibrant and infinite possibilities, said Lorena Villarreal, co-owner-founder of Tulip Pictures alongside her husband, Darian de la Fuente. Move comes as more Latin American companies are setting up shop in Madrid, including Chile’s Clara Films and Peru’s Tondero, among others.
Villarreal’s third directorial outing, “Life Is” (“La vida es”) is also bowing its official international teaser trailer with Variety. The dark comedy had its world premiere at Argentina’s Mar del Plata Film Festival, the only A-list festival in Latin America, where it was well received by critics and audiences alike.
“Experiencing the film with the audience in the festival was priceless,” said Villarreal who was deeply moved by the “great creative exchanges and level of appreciation for independent cinema in Argentina.”
Penned by Villarreal and Ian Martin (“Veep,” “The Death of Stalin”), the pic will be hitting the international festival circuit before it debuts in Mexico next year. It was produced by Villarreal, de la Fuente and Denisse Chapa of Tulip Pictures and Axel Kuschevatzky of Infinity Hill along with Barraca Prods. in its last foray into filmmaking before it focuses solely on advertising production
Starring Chile’s Paulina Garcia (“Gloria”), Naian González Norvind (“Corina”), Natalia Plascencia (“Familia”) and Rubén Ochandiano (“Biutiful”), it focuses on two women about to turn 40 who face mid-life predicaments as they navigate a mosaic of emotions and multiple events.
Nora’s (Plasencia) existential crisis is triggered by multiple collapses her family life, emotional stability, career and fracturing polyamorous relationship while Ely (González Norvind) longs for some stability in her life.
Said Villarreal: “Directing ‘Life Is’ gave me the opportunity to explore themes such as loss, midlife crisis and the search for one’s purpose and identity – what we truly want in life and who we truly are – through a distinctly female perspective and within a diverse narrative universe.”
“Life Is” marks quite a departure from Villarreal’s previous pics “The Weeping Women” (“Las Lloronas”) and “Silencio,” which are both genre pics, although Villarreal sees some resemblance to “Las Lloronas” as they are both about women.
Tulip Pictures kicks off the international rollout of “Life Is” at Ventana Sur as it moves to expand its offices and bolster its status across the Ibero-American, U.S. and international markets.
Its latest acquisitions include Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s “A Useful Ghost,” winner of Cannes’ Critics’ Week; Diego Céspedes’ Un Certain Regard winner “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” also Chile’s Oscar submission, and Eva Libertad’s “Deaf” (“Sorda”), winner of Berlinale’s Panorama Audience Award and multiple Malaga Festival prizes.
Tulip’s broader slate includes work by Hirokazu Kore-eda, Paul Verhoeven and Andrea Arnold, along with emerging filmmakers on the international circuit.
Meanwhile, Villarreal is preparing her English-language feature “Ophelia,” co-written again with Martin, an Emmy winner and BAFTA nominee, which centers on a 60-year-old woman facing a pivotal moment of reckoning. Target shooting locations are either in Spain or the U.K. by September next year.
Tulip will also host the second edition of its Muestra de Oaxaca, a showcase of Mexican cinema, next spring, and will again be organizing the Monterrey International Film Festival, also slated for 2026.
As part of the company’s structure, Abraham González Ruiz leads the distribution arm of Tulip Pictures as director of distribution and acquisitions while Paloma Cabrera serves as director of production and development, overseeing Tulip’s project pipeline and cross-border collaborations.
Natalia Plasencia, Lorena Villarreal, Naian González (l-r) Credit: Cleo Bouza
