Rivero discovers 'Pozo amargo'

BARCELONA -- Mexico-based shingle Una Comunion will produce "Pozo amargo," the third feature of Locarno Golden Leopard winner Enrique Rivero. Project was unveiled at the 12th Huelva Co-Production Forum, which closed Saturday. Budget is near $1 million. "Pozo" is the first screenplay that Rivero has written. Zamora Films co-produces. Una Comunion is seeking finance completion out of Spain. With his first feature, Rivero became one of Mexico's foremost new left-of-field auteurs. Debut "Parque via" nabbed Locarno's top prize in 2008, the Ingmar Bergman Intl. Debut Award at Sweden's Gothenburg Fest, and the Audience Award at the now-defunct Mexico City Ficco fest -- both in 2009 -- among a bevy of kudos. Set in the Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha, in a real-life village called Pozoamargo, pic turns on Jesus, a man who finds out he's suffering from a venereal disease, and decides to hides in the village fleeing from his own inner demons. "Pic is an analysis of guilt, a product of morality and, in the ultimate analysis, a useless sentiment," Rivero explained. "The main character won't create a sense of audience empathy: He is an anti-hero, the opposite of Beto at 'Parque.'" "Pozo" will shoot in 2013, split into two stages -- grape-picking in September, the olive-harvest in January. Rivero will lense his sophomore feature -- "Mai Morire" -- in February. "Morire" is co-produced by Una Comunion and Zamora Films with the support of Netherlands' Hubert Bals Fund. Pic is set in Mexico City's Xochimilco, a district whose inhabitants travel by boat via canals. "In a place where people live like five centuries ago, a middle-aged woman comes back to take care of her ill mother and is forced to take some serious decisions," Rivero explained, saying "Morire" talks about "transcendence." Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com