La Mancha
Date:
December 15, 2022
La Mancha
La Mancha
Lindsey Cordero and Armando Croda
so-cle | France and Bengala | Mexico
Live-action feature | 2nd feature
Logline
After a divorce, Ivana and her son journey to a rural community in Veracruz’s misty mountains. Buying land for a macadamia farm, Ivana discovers Max’s illegal land scheme. Rising tensions divide the community, and Ivana must gather courage to protect her land.
Synopsis
After a recent divorce, Ivana and her son embrace rural life in the misty mountains of Veracruz, in Mexico. Ivana seeks to buy land for a macadamia nut farm, empowering local farmers.
She enlists Mari, a young woman from the village, who’s father Max, a reformed alcoholic, is burdened by debt to the local mobster, Ruiz.
Ruiz threatens Gadriel, Max’s father, to give him land over his son’s debt. Gadriel sells the land to Ivana to safeguard their heritage, but unknowingly, Max had already sold it ilegally and without his consent.
In a village celebration, Max discovers the land legally belongs to Ivana. Pressured, Max relapses into alcoholism and accepts Ruiz’s proposal—investing the remaini g funds in a timber trafficking operation exploiting the community.
As tension peaks, Ivana faces escalating hostility—her truck tires are punctured, her water pump and her dog disappear. Protecting her macadamia trees, she restricts access to her land, straining relations with the villagers. Coerced by Ruiz, Mari takes daring steps to help her father.
Denied financial aid by Ivana, she steals the land documents. Confronting Ruiz, she bravely threatens to report the trafficking her father was led into to the Sheriff. The community, dissatisfied with Ivana, demands the return of the land.
Facing alienation, Ivana’s ex-partner seeks safety for their son, who chooses to go with his father. Alone one night, Ivana fires a gun for self-protection. In the aftermath, a second shot rings out. Mari witnesses Ruiz’s truck disappearing into the night before discovering Max’s lifeless body in his taxi.
Mari, fearing retaliation, relocates to the city. Ivana leaves her macadamia farm behind and journeys to the coastal village of La Mancha to reunite with her son.
Director’s Profile
Lindsey Cordero is a Mexican filmmaker.
She is the producer of the Netflix TV documentary I am Vanessa Guillen and the feature film STRAIGHTEN UP AND FLY RIGHT (2021). She is director and producer of the documentary I’M LEAVING NOW (2018). She won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award for her work as producer in Jim McKay’s acclaimed EN EL SÉPTIMO DÍA (2018). She is editor of the short documentary THE FACILITY (2021). She produced the award-winning short narrative CHURROS directed by
Bruce Smolanoff & Emilie McDonald (2019).
She is co-director of the television documentary FIRMES, MEXICANS IN THE BRONX (2013). She holds a B.A. in Anthropology and an MFA from the Integrated Media Arts program at Hunter College of The City University of New York.
Armando Croda is a Mexican filmmaker who works as a director, editor, and cinematographer.
He is known for his acclaimed documentary I’M LEAVING NOW. Additionally, Armando Croda served as producer of the Netflix TV documentary I AM VANESSA GUILLEN (2022). He is producer, cinematographer and editor for STRAIGHTEN UP AND FLY RIGHT by Kristen Abate and Steven Tanenbaum (2022). As an editor, he has worked on various films, including LOUDMOUTH directed by Josh Alexander (2022), THE INFILTRATORS by Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra (2019), JAY MYSELF by Stephen Wilkes (2018), OUT OF MANY, ONE by John Hoffman and Nanfu Wang (2018), and HAVANA MOTOR CLUB by Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt (2015).
Company Profile
The Bordeaux-based production company so-cle was founded in 2020 by Clémentine Mourão-Ferreira, who has worked in the film industry in Paris, Lisbon, and Mexico. It aims to produce feature films by both first-time and experienced directors from Europe and Latin America – filmmakers who capture authentic worlds where poetry, imagination, and nature prevail.
Currently in post-production: THE FLAME OF A CANDLE, 3rd fiction by Portuguese filmmaker André Gil Mata, and two documentary features shot in Mexico and in India.
Based in Mexico, Bengala is focused on promoting, creating and
producing auteur series and films for large audiences.
EL NORTE SOBRE EL VACIO by Alejandra Márquez Abella (Prime
Video Panorama/Berlinale 2022 ; Nominated to Ariel Awards 2023; Morelia IFF 2022
RUIDO by Natalia Beristáin (Netflix)
San Sebastian IFF 2022, Chicago IFF 2022; Morelia IFF 2022;
Nominated to Ariel Awards 2023
EL COMEDIANTE by Rodrigo Guardiola et Gabriel Nuncio
Mezcal award for best movie and best photography at Guadalajara IFF 2021
TERRITORIO by Andrés Clariond
FICUNAM IFF 2020, Slamdance IFF 2020
YA NO ESTOY AQUI by Fernando Frías
Ariel awards for best movie, best director and best screenplay
2020; Best movie award at Cairo IFF 2019; Best movie award and
audience award at Morelia IFF 2019; nominated to the Goya 2021
MUERTE AL VERANO by Sebastián Padilla (Prime Video)
Nominated to Ariel Awards 2022; Morelia IFF 2019
MAÑANA PSICOTROPICA, by Alejandro Aldrete
Monterrey IFF 2