{"id":614018,"date":"2026-09-04T07:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/614018\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T07:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:52:09","slug":"berlin-golden-bear-winner-lila-aviles-wraps-production-on-cabula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/614018\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlin Golden Bear Winner Lila Avil\u00e9s\u00a0Wraps Production on ‘C\u00e1bula’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBerlin Golden Bear winner Lila Avil\u00e9s (\u201cTot\u00e9m\u201d) has wrapped production on her next feature film, \u201cC\u00e1bula,\u201d and shared an exclusive first-look image with Variety. The director will present the film during the Venice Gap-Financing Market<\/a>, which takes place from Sept. 4 \u2013 6.<\/p>\n

\n\tSet in the fictional Mexican town of Mexicalpan, \u201cC\u00e1bula\u201d follows To\u00f1a, a dedicated and deeply compassionate teacher who is committed to nurturing her students\u2019 creativity. When an invitation to represent their community takes To\u00f1a and her class to the capital, they encounter an absurd group of elites determined to appropriate and exploit their customs. But despite a series of challenges and betrayals, To\u00f1a reaffirms her calling and her belief in the transformative power of education.<\/p>\n

\n\tWritten by Avil\u00e9s and Miguel Vasallo, \u201cC\u00e1bula\u201d is produced by Nicol\u00e1s Celis (one of the producers of multi-Oscar winner \u201cRoma\u201d) for Cuadernos de Cine, the Mexico City-based shingle founded by Celis in 2008 and a sister company to production powerhouse Pimienta Films. It\u2019s co-produced by Maria Zamora of Elastica Films and stars Teresita S\u00e1nchez, Gabriela Cartol and Montserrat Mara\u00f1\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film marks Avil\u00e9s\u2019 long-awaited follow-up to \u201cTot\u00e9m,\u201d which wowed audiences as well as the jurors at the 2023 Berlinale.\u00a0Variety\u2019s Peter Debruge praised<\/a> the \u201cintimate, emotionally rich\u201d drama, singling out the director\u2019s \u201cgenerous, open-ended style\u201d in what he described as a \u201cmultilayered follow-up to \u2018The Chambermaid.\u2019\u201d That film, which marked Avil\u00e9s\u2019 auspicious debut, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2018, where it won the Ariel First Feature Film Award.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to a director\u2019s statement provided to\u00a0Variety, Avil\u00e9s\u2019 latest \u201cuses comedy as resistance against a cruel, dehumanizing world\u2026 [and] explores humor as an escape valve and a collective mirror to question power, rebuilding the social fabric through vulnerability, tenderness and irreverence. At its heart is a tribute to education. In a country of minimal budgets, underpaid teachers become anonymous heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUtilizing a mix of seasoned professional actors and fresh local talents, \u201cC\u00e1bula\u201d stars Teresita S\u00e1nchez, the veteran Mexican actress who featured in both \u201cThe Chambermaid\u201d and \u201cTot\u00e9m.\u201d Speaking to\u00a0Variety\u00a0from Mexico City, Avil\u00e9s referred to S\u00e1nchez as her \u201cmuse,\u201d comparing her to Federico Fellini\u2019s wife, Giulietta Messina.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe has that energy that can make you cry, can make you laugh,\u201d said the director. \u201cShe\u2019s a magic woman. She has that power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAvil\u00e9s described S\u00e1nchez as a natural fit for the role of To\u00f1a, a woman whose \u201cquiet, nurturing presence serves as an intimate moral counterweight to the surrounding chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe\u2019s a woman that hears, she\u2019s a woman that sees, but most of all, she\u2019s a woman that feels,\u201d said the director. \u201cShe\u2019s really connected to her students, to her vocation \u2014 her calling. She\u2019s super enthusiastic. She wants to [create] a real transformation in her students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAvil\u00e9s\u2019 third feature builds on her already formidable catalog, twice representing Mexico in the Oscar race for best international feature film. Creatively, she said, all three films exist on a continuum, with one project leading naturally to the next.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I started to do \u2018The Chambermaid,\u2019 I already had \u2018Tot\u00e9m\u2019 in my heart. While I was doing \u2018Tot\u00e9m,\u2019 I knew I wanted to do \u2018C\u00e1bula,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes we have stories, and those stories go out [into the world]. It\u2019s that persistence of stories that\u2026are not in the mind, but in the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA former actress who directed theater before venturing into filmmaking, Avil\u00e9s has been praised as part of the new wave of female directors shaping Mexican cinema. Celis echoed that, heralding the self-taught filmmaker as a \u201cvisionary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt is a true privilege to team up with a visionary like Lila Avil\u00e9s, especially at a time when championing such genuine auteur voices is so challenging,\u201d said Celis. \u201cAfter admiring the beautiful and intimate journey that was \u2018T\u00f3tem,\u2019 we are thrilled to begin our collaboration with \u2018C\u00e1bula.\u2019 The Venice Gap-Financing Market provides exactly the platform we need to gather the partners who will help bring her vision to life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berlin Golden Bear winner Lila Avil\u00e9s (\u201cTot\u00e9m\u201d) has wrapped production on her next feature film, \u201cC\u00e1bula,\u201d and shared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,260387,270,260388,802,259970],"class_list":["post-614018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lila-aviles","tag-movies","tag-nicolas-celis","tag-venice-film-festival","tag-venice-gap-financing-market"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}