FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 9, 2020

Cinema Guild acquires Tribeca prizewinner 499

NEW YORK, NY- Cinema Guild announced today the acquisition of all U.S. distribution rights to Rodrigo Reyes' 499. The film premiered at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival where it won the Best Cinematography award in the documentary competition. It was also awarded a Special Jury Prizes at both Hot Docs and EIDF Korea and celebrated its European Premiere at IDFA this fall. Last month the film was awarded the Golden Frog for best Docudrama at EnergaCamerimage Film Festival in Poland, the world's top cinematography event. Cinema Guild will open 499 theatrically in 2021.

To reflect on the 500-year anniversary of the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 2021, director Reyes offers a bold hybrid cinema experience exploring the brutal legacy of colonialism in contemporary Mexico. Through the eyes of a ghostly conquistador, the film recreates Hernán Cortez's epic journey from the coasts of Veracruz to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, the site of contemporary Mexico City. As the anachronistic fictional character interacts with real-life victims of Mexico's failed drug wars and indigenous communities in resistance, the filmmaker portrays the country's current humanitarian crisis as part of a vicious and unfinished colonial project, still in motion, nearly five hundred years later.

Provocative, unique, and strikingly cinematic, 499 mixes non-fictional and performative elements with elements of the road movie to show how past traumas continue to affect contemporary reality. While linking these seemingly disparate histories of violence, the film confirms Reyes as one of the most potent voices in American independent cinema.

"Rodrigo has given the world a daring film that so beautifully illustrates the absurdity of colonialism," said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly,"We can't wait to share his unique brand of storytelling with U.S. audiences."

"Anniversaries are incredibly powerful opportunities to bring history to life, to re-imagine ourselves and our universe," said Reyes. "Many countries with a colonial past, including the US, are in desperate need of confronting their own histories of exploitation-not because this past is gone and resolved, but precisely because it's alive and well. I am incredibly excited to partner with Cinema Guild to bring 499 to audiences in 2021."

The deal was negotiated by Peter Kelly of Cinema Guild with Lucas Verga of The Film Sales Company.

Mexican director Rodrigo Reyes has won awards for his films around the world, screening at festivals such as Morelia International Film Festival, BFI London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, with great reviews in spaces like Variety and the New York times. His work has received the support of The Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE), Sundance and Tribeca Institutes, and many others. He has screened his films on America ReFramed and Netflix, and is a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim and Creative Capital Awards.

Cinema Guild is a premier distributor of world cinema, independent films and documentaries, whose upcoming releases include Hong Sangsoo's The Woman Who Ran, Matías Piñeiro's Isabella and Kazik Radwanski's Anne at 13,000 ft. Recent theatrical releases include Bas Devos' Ghost Tropic, Jim McKay's En el Séptimo Día and RaMell Ross's Academy Award-nominated Hale County This Morning, This Evening.

For press inquiries, please contact us at:

(212) 685-6242 or press at cinemaguild dot com

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