Indox Adds Two Visions Du Réel Titles To Slate Alongside Dongnan Chen’s Latest Feature ‘Whispers In May’ 

EXCLUSIVE: Luke Brawley’s non-fiction agency Indox has added two Visions Du Réel competition titles, Say Goodbye and The World Upside Down, to its slate alongside Whispers in May, the latest feature by Dongnan Chen (14 Paintings, Singing in the Wilderness).

Directed by Paloma López Carrillo in her feature debut, Say Goodbye explores the grief of a family after their father disappears following his deportation from their home in Utah. The film was produced by Abril López Carrillo (State of Silence). Carrillo is best known for her credits as an editor on films like Midnight Family and The Golden Dream. 

“Say Goodbye has been fortunate to find important allies at every stage of its creation. Reaching this moment of release and collaborating with Luke encourages us greatly,” Carrillo said in a statement. “The way Indox supports documentaries with new artistic approaches is truly genuine and committed. We are very excited to collaborate together and find the best path in festivals for Say Goodbye”.

The World Upside Down is directed by Agostina Di Luciano and Leon Schwitter. The film tells the story of a small town and its residents as they grapple with mysterious events and seek elusive answers. 

“We are delighted to have Luke from Indox as our distribution partner on our film, The World Upside Down,” the directors said. “The film investigates stories, storytelling, and oral history as one of its core subjects and uses reality and fiction in a very playful manner, which makes it slip through the general genre definitions. Luke’s vision of cinema and his careful selection for artistic and very individual documentaries and hybrid films makes him the perfect collaborator for our film and we hope it can be discovered by a broad audience.”

Whispers in May is also the first feature boarded by Indox in the production stage. The pic is currently in post-production. It is produced by Jia Zhao (Kabul: City in the Wind). The film blends forms, using coming-of-age tale and road movie conventions to explore the life of a young girl in rural China who, after living alone and experiencing her first period, embarks on a journey with her two best friends to find a new skirt for her menarche ceremony—a symbolic rite of passage into adulthood.

Discussing the film, producer Zhao said: “Each film is a journey, and it takes a lot for the team to get this far. At markets and along the way, we’ve felt that a story like this needs a tailor-made partnership to reach the right audience—those drawn to its artistic style and depth—who might not be found in the first place through traditional routes. That’s why we’re excited to embark on this new journey with Indox —encouraged by their belief in the film and their instinct to navigate it through the festival landscape, toward the eyes and hearts it was meant to reach.”