Tiago Melo (Azougue Nazaré) returns to the clash between folklife and modern threats in rural Brazil, and to the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), with his second feature, Yellow Cake, which will world premiere in the Tiger Competition of the 55th edition of the Dutch fest on Feb. 2.
Miners and researchers in Brazil’s Northeast face the apocalypse in the genre hybrid after failed experiments with uranium as an insect repellent threaten to bring about the End of Days. The insect in question is the aedes aegypti, whose unofficial English names include the Dengue Mosquito and Yellow Fever Mosquito.
IFFR advertises Yellow Cake as a “pulpy, politically charged sci-fi fusing local myth, dark humor, working-class grit and radioactivity.” And its website adds: “Brazil’s working class faces the storm troopers of global capital. All of it is grounded in truths of the region, with the fantasy elements brought in to make these forces visible and, in a sense, easier to grasp.”
Rejane Faria, Valmir do Côco, Spencer Callahan, and Tânia Maria star in Yellow Cake.
Melo directed the movie from Urânio Filmes, Lucinda Produções, and Jaraguá Produções based on a screenplay that he wrote with Amanda Guimarães, Anna Carolina Francisco, Jeronimo Lemos, and Gabriel Domingues. Gustavo Pessoa and Ivo Lopes Araújo were the cinematographers, with André Sampaio serving as the editor. The producers are Melo, Carol Ferreira, Leonardo Sette, and Luiz Barbosa. Urânio Filmes is handling rights.
THR can now exclusively premiere two clips from Yellow Cake. The first teaser takes us inside the lab – but not without those yellow protective suits, and not without driving music. Plus, the Yellow Cake of the film title gets a mention here. So, watch closely, and watch out!
The second teaser from Yellow Cake underlines the sense that its characters can’t trust many people and that things start looking really dire. At the same time, as the end of this scene drives home, the clock is ticking. Watch the second clip from Yellow Cake here.
