Motel Destino: Brazilian film receives 12 minutes of applause at Cannes

This year, the film Motel Destino, Karim Ainouz, is representing national cinema at Cannes. After the premiere, the work received an impressive 12-minute ovation, leading the actors to celebrate the moment. Now, the director and his team anxiously await the outcome of the palm d'or, which they are also competing for.

Plot

Em Motel Destino, Herald, Played by Iago Xavier, needs to pay a debt and tries to rob a bank, but his attempt fails. Fleeing from the police, he hides in a roadside motel, where he meets Dayana, lived by Nataly Rocha. Check out the full teaser:

This thriller Erotic is marked by strong colors, intense tones and lights that highlight a violent, tense and sensually captivating story. Heraldo, 80 kilometers from Fortaleza, falls in love with Dayana. However, she is married and runs the motel with Elias, a former police officer played by Fábio assunção, the only non-Northeastern actor in the cast.

Elias, sexist and violent, exerts toxic control over Dayana, both as her husband and as a partner. As the plot progresses, the colors become increasingly saturated and the motel corridors take on a frightening atmosphere, with a symphony of moans that transforms the place of pleasure into a true prison.

The film addresses themes such as violence against women, social inequality and racism. However, according to the director Karim Ainouz, Motel Destino is not a social drama, but a body thriller. During a press conference, Aïnouz compared the emergence of Black in the United States, right after the Second World War, with the current situation in Brazil, showing how his new film, which represents National Cinema at Cannes, reflects and plays with these nuances.

The film Black began in a historical moment in the post-war USA, where we have a series of films about fractured characters. And I think that what we faced in Brazil in the four years before the Lula government was a war.

Karim Aïnouz, in a press conference.

Cast

The film Motel Destino, scripted by Wislan Esmeraldo, Mauricio Zacharias and the director Karim Ainouz, stands out for its strong cast, including Fábio assunção (Elias), Nataly Rocha (Dayana) and Iago Xavier (Heraldo). Film production also relies on the collaboration of the following professionals:

• Gabriela Tocchio – Executive Producer;
• Purple Put – Co-producer;
• Fabiano Gullane – Producer;
• Maurício Macêdo - Executive producer;
• Caio Gullane – Producer;
• Guilherme Cezar Coelho – Co-producer;
• Didar Domehri – Co-producer;
• Mario Canivello – Co-producer;
• Pablo Torrecillas - Executive producer;
• Michael Weber – Co-producer.

Acclaim at Cannes

This week, film representatives Motel Destino — including Nataly Rocha, Karim Aïnouz, Iago Xavier, Fábio Assunção and 20 other team members — participated in the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. After the presentation of the work, the film made history with applause for 12 minutes. This year, the Brazilian erotic and claustrophobic thriller is competing for the Palme d'Or.

Excited by Brazil's acclaim at Cannes, the cast members of Motel Destino danced to the music from the film's final credits:

The director and his entourage even livened up the red carpet before the screening, dancing Chicken Heart do Aviões do Forró. Xande Plane, one of the band's members, celebrated the song's presence in Cannes on social media:

View this photo on Instagram

A post shared by Xand Avião (@xandaviao)

Furthermore, during the press conference, actor Fábio Assunção commented on his first experience on the red carpet:

I walked in front of the red carpet and I was imagining Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, all these figures who have already walked there, so I'm very happy, especially because of the history of this festival. And I'm happy to be in Karim's film, on his return to Ceará. It has a greater flavor.

Fábio Assunção, actor of Motel Destino.

After the premiere, the cast now awaits the announcement of the winner of the Palme d'Or, which will be made on May 25th.

Where to watch

After the success of Motel Destino in Cannes, many people are eager to watch this cinematographic work. It is currently available on Mubi and also in Globe Films.

Here, we are looking forward to seeing the outcome of Motel Destino in Cannes, where it competes for the Palme d'Or in the coming days. To stay up to date with the world of cinema and follow the latest news from the festival, follow showmetech!

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Sources: Folha de São Paulo, gshow, Instagram

Text proofread by: Pedro Bomfim