News

The tropes of film noir play out in neon colours in Karim Aïnouz’s vibrant Motel Destino. Opening with two lean, muscular and barely dressed young brothers play-fighting on a beach, it contrasts shades of gold and terracotta with blue skies, a turquoise ocean and the vivid greens of cacti, ferns and palms. This is Ceará, where the sun beats down relentlessly. It’s a coastal territory effectively governed by gangster matriarch Bambina (Fabiola Liper). Heraldo (Iago Xavier), one of the brothers, dreams of going to São Paolo to earn money so he can return and open his own garage, but Bambina has work she wants the two of them to do first. When things go wrong, Heraldo finds himself on the run, and takes shelter in a seedy motel.

When a man has nothing else, he has his body. Dayanna (Nataly Rocha), who co-owns the motel with her partner...

The opening sequences of Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz’s films are, for the most part, composed of immaculate static shots of nature—a detailed look into the place that his characters inhabit—as if to imply some sort of geographic determinism. In the particular case of “Motel Destino” (2024), the bordering red cliffs could signify the hardened, rough edges of its protagonist; while the occasional pops of lush green vegetation found in this arid land may represent the resilience and mutability of his character; and the brightly turquoise waters that ever so gently bathe the shore may very well comment on his pathological need for affection as he was abandoned by his father, abused by his step-father and neglected by his mother.

But perhaps most prominently, the blistering sunlight suggests the hot-headed temperament of everyone in this coastal town. If bodies aren’t drenched in sweat due to the extreme heat of the region’s climate,...

The Match Factory has closed major international deals for Karim Aïnouz’s neon-noir thriller “Motel Destino,” which premiered in the Official Selection in Competition to a 14-minute standing ovation at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The film has secured distribution in key territories: Germany (Piffl Medien), Benelux (Cherrypickers Film Distributie), Spain (Vertigo Films), Latin America, excluding Brazil (Mubi), Scandinavia (Njutafilms), Poland (Aurora Films), Portugal (Nitrato Filmes), Romania (Bad Unicorn), the Baltics (A-One Films), Greece (Danaos Films), Former Yugoslavia (McF MegaCom Film), Bulgaria (Beta Film), and Taiwan (Catchplay). Tandem secured the French distribution rights ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, while Brouhaha and Written Rock are handling the U.K. rights. Negotiations for additional territories are underway.

It will premiere in Brazil on Aug. 22 in more than 100 cinemas.

The film is set at the neon-hued Motel Destino, a roadside sex hotel steaming under the burning blue skies of the northeastern coast of Brazil.

Karim Ainouz’s Cannes Competition title Motel Destino has sold to key territories for The Match Factory.

The erotic thriller has sold to Piffl Medien in Germany, Cherrypickers Film Distributie in Benelux, Vertigo Films in Spain, Mubi in Latin America excluding Brazil, Bad Unicorn in Romania, Njutafilms in Scandinavia, Aurora Films in Poland, Nitrato Filmes in Portugal, A-One Films in the Baltics, Danaos Films in Greece, McF MegaCom Film in Former Yugoslavia, Beta Film in Bulgaria, and Catchplay in Taiwan.

Motel Destino stars Iago Xavier in his feature film debut, alongside Nataly Rocha and Fabio Assunção, as a 21-year-old man...

Simply put, Brazilian motels are places for people to have sex. Everyone knows it, no one objects to it. You pay by the hour and the suite is yours––a big bed, porn on-demand, bring red or blue lighting to illuminate the bodies as they merge––to fulfill your carnal needs. As well as a haven for horny people in transit, the motel is a place to return to and consummate a bond that deepens with every sexual act. Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz zooms in on one such location in Motel Destino, his sixth Cannes entry thus far, and second in the Main Competition. The northeastern coast of Ceará is where the film takes place. The cinematic version of Aïnouz’s home province glistens under the scorching sun of the equator, the sea lapping at the sand while crime is still what a lot of people do to get by:...

Those look for a libido-juicing kick at this year’s Cannes Film Festival surely found it in “Motel Destino,” the sexually explicit erotic thriller from Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz.

Competing in the main competition once again after “Invisible Life” and “Firebrand,” Aïnouz returned to his native Brazil to shoot this perverse psychosexual triangle about the owners of a sex motel along the country’s northeastern Atlantic coast, and the criminal drifter who disrupts their lives. The wild-haired Dayana (Nataly Rocha) operates the Motel Destino with her abusive husband Elias (Fábio Assunção), where she takes up an unhinged affair with Heraldo (Iago Xavier), and amid nonstop sucking and fucking, plot to kill Elias in the grand tradition of the great noirs. Except it’s a noir with a post-Hays Code, liberated twist that has rocked Cannes with its strong, pervasive sexual content, to use the language of the American Motion Picture Association’s ratings board.

One of the favorited Brazilian filmmakers of the Cannes film festival with Madame Satã (2002), O Céu de Suely (2006), and winner A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão having all premiered at the fest’s Un Certain Regard section. Adding Special Screening selected Mariner Of The Mountains (2021) and last year’s Firebrand, Karim Aïnouz makes a quick Croisette return with Motel Destino. Iago Xavier, Nataly Rocha and Fábio Assunção are in the lead roles here in this film noir.

Gist: The neon-hued Motel Destino, a roadside sex hotel steaming under the burning blue skies of the northeastern coast of Brazil, is run by hot-headed Elias and his restless younger wife Dayana.…...

Motel Destino, directed by Karim Aïnouz, begins with a burst of energy and intrigue, setting up a promising neo-noir thriller set against the vibrant backdrop of Northeastern Brazil. The film follows Heraldo (Iago Xavier) and his brother, whose favorite pastime of beach outings and capoeira practice belies their darker side as petty criminals indebted to a local madam. Their latest assignment — a high-stakes murder — plunges them into a realm of danger and desperation. However, despite its gripping start and lush cinematography, the film ultimately loses its way, bogged down by a sluggish middle act and narrative inconsistencies.

The brothers are tasked with assassinating a Frenchman in exchange for freedom from their debt. Before the mission, Heraldo decides to unwind at a nightclub, where he meets a mysterious woman who leads him to Motel Destino. After a night of passion, he awakens to find her gone, his money stolen and himself locked in the room.

Nihilism and neon-popped lust collide in Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz’s Portuguese-language “Motel Destino,” set in a love motel so sordid that lay tourists should best avoid it, and only criminals and castaways are likely to check in. The “Invisible Life” director’s steamy psychosexual thriller set in the sweatiest armpit of the equator speaks melodrama and noir but with a Brazilian accent, Aïnouz returning to his home state of Ceará to shoot on his own turf for the first time in five years. The writer/director lifts from classics such as Lawrence Kasdan’s “Body Heat” and Billy Wilder’s “Double Indemnity” but also from ‘70s Brazilian sex comedies to tell a perverse yarn of extramarital betrayal turned murderous. But while the pre-“Body Heat” noirs he’s channeling could only suggest rather than spell out sex, Aïnouz goes graphic — and relentlessly — in an arthouse-only erotic genre piece that...

With Cannes Film Festival now officially underway and reviews coming in, we’re also getting new looks at some of our most-anticipated premieres. The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão director Karim Aïnouz returns to the festival, just one year after the starry Firebrand, returning to his roots with Motel Destino. Starring Iago Xavier, Nataly Rocha, Fabio Assunção, the stylish first teaser and poster have now arrived for the Cannes competition premiere.

Here’s the synopsis: “The neon-hued Motel Destino, a roadside sex hotel steaming under the burning blue skies of the northeastern coast of Brazil, is run by hot-headed Elias and his restless younger wife Dayana. The unexpected arrival of 21-year-old Heraldo, on the run after a botched hit, disrupts the established order. As the tropical noir plays out, loyalties and desires intertwine to reveal that destiny has its own enigmatic design.”

Watch the teaser below.

The post First Teaser...

Karim Aïnouz is harnessing the sweaty desire of corruption for his latest erotic thriller “Motel Destino.”

The Brazilian filmmaker returns to his native country for the feature, which was shot entirely in Aïnouz’s homeland of Ceará. “Motel Destino” stars Iago Xavier and Nataly Rocha, who were selected from an extensive casting process, and renowned Brazilian actor Fabio Assunção.

Per the official synopsis, neon-hued Motel Destino is a roadside sex hotel under the burning blue skies of the Northeastern coast of Brazil, run by the boorish Elias and his frustrated, beautiful wife Dayana. When 21-year-old Heraldo finds himself at the motel, after messing up a hit and going on the run from both the police and the gang he let down, Dayana finds herself intrigued and lets him stay. As the two navigate a dance of power, desire and liberation, a dangerous plan for freedom emerges. In this tropical noir,...

Karim Aïnouz is following up his 2023 English-language debut “Firebrand” with a return to his Brazilian roots.

For his second consecutive Cannes premiere, Aïnouz helmed erotic thriller “Motel Destino” which will screen in competition at the festival. “Motel Destino” is Aïnouz’s sixth Cannes premiere, with his 2019 feature “Invisible Life” winning the Un Certain Regard award.

“Motel Destino” stars Iago Xavier and Nataly Rocha, who were selected from an extensive casting process, and renowned Brazilian actor Fabio Assunção. The official synopsis reads: “The neon-hued Motel Destino is a roadside sex hotel under the burning blue skies of the Northeastern coast of Brazil, run by the boorish Elias and his frustrated, beautiful wife Dayana. When 21-year-old Heraldo finds himself at the motel, after messing up a hit and going on the run from both the police and the gang he let down, Dayana finds herself intrigued and lets him stay. As the...

Before moving on to his next weighty film project in Rosebushpruning (set for Spring 2024), Karim Aïnouz has already begun filming his next feature film. Returning to his native Brazil, Variety reports that Aïnouz (who is coming off his Croisette comp showcase with Firebrand – read our review) new film Motel Destino is filming with newbies Iago Xavier, Nataly Rocha and Fábio Assunção and part of the prod team we find Aïnouz reteaming with cinematographer Hélène Louvart and production designer Marcos Pedroso. The Match Factory are selling the film rights. This will surely make a bid to premiere in Cannes next year.…...

Karim Aïnouz’s “Motel Destino,” which began filming last week, has eroticism, a recurring element in his films, as the backdrop. The Match Factory is selling the international rights.

His eighth fiction feature marks a return to the director’s Brazilian roots after having shot his first English-language production, “Firebrand,” starring Alicia Vikander and Jude Law, which played in competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Aïnouz won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in 2019 for “Invisible Life.”

“Motel Destino” is an “intimate picture of a youth whose future has been stolen by a toxic and oppressive elite, against which rebellion and violence are often the only possible way out,” according to a press statement.

“‘Motel Destino’ is, above all, a love story,” Aïnouz said. “The love between a peripheral young man who lives against a system that wants him dead and a woman who resists the attacks...

Karim Aïnouz has begun the Brazil shoot of erotic thriller Motel Destino, in a return to his roots after English-language drama Firebrand starring Alicia Vikander and Jude Law.

The new feature began filming in the Brazilian-Algerian filmmaker’s native region of Ceará in north-eastern Brazil on July 31.

The Match Factory, which already represents several of Aïnouz’s films such as Mariner of the Mountains (2021), Invisible Life (2019) and Praia do Futuro (2014), has announced its acquisition of the international sales rights as shooting gets underway.

Motel Destino marks Aïnouz’s eighth feature after Firebrand, which world premiered in Competition in Cannes this year, and 2019 Un Certain Regard winner The Invisible Life.

The director says the film’s motel setting is “the main character of the plot”, describing it as an intersection for chronic issues of contemporary Brazil in which the future of the country’s youth has been stolen by a toxic and oppressive elite,...

Project marks a return to the Brazilian director’s roots after his first English language production, Firebrand, debuted in Competition at Cannes this year.

Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz has started shooting his eighth fiction feature, Motel Destino which is being sold internationally by The Match Factory.

The project marks a return to the director’s roots after his first English language production, Firebrand starring Alicia Vikander and Jude Law, debuted in Cannes Competition this year.

Motel Destino is being shot in the Brazilian state of Ceará, the director’s home state, and features two local talents, Iago Xavier and Nataly Rocha...