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DESERT CANTOS

By Sofie BENOOT

Documentary - Production 2013

Desert Cantos is a documentary western. In this film, the western film genre is analysed to portray modern day America in a relevant and intriguing manner. It is a tale of a country on the verge of history and current events, of myth and reality.

- Year of production
- 2013
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- BELGIUM
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Budget
- 0.3 - 0.6 M$
- Duration
- 100 mn
- Director(s)
- Sofie BENOOT
- Writer(s)
- Sofie BENOOT
- Producer(s)
- Eric GOOSSENS (off world), Frederik NICOLAI (off world)
- Synopsis
- Desert Cantos is my third documentary journey through the United States. My fascination with America, its relationship between place and identity, myths and history, led to Fronterismo, a film about the frontier between the US and Mexico, and to Blue Meridian: a documentary road movie along and on the Mississippi, straight through the Deep South of the United States. The three films will be presented under the name, ‘American Water,’ and visits places that were important in the founding of the country, its mythology and its daily functioning, the stories of which often remain untold and unknown. The focus in the trilogy is on the people who live in these places, who keep the dream alive and battle against the environment and their cohabitants.
  The third part, Desert Cantos is a voyage through the West, in which I search for the myths and stories of the country and focus on its social transformations and the narratives of the country. An
  associative journey, fleshed out with a series of encounters with places and people. A number of elements that I focus on to tell my story are the landscape, the people who live there, the history, the music. We cross several American states (Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, California), with each state adding its own story to the bigger story of the West.
- Partners & financing
- VAF scenario support confirmed € 12.500
  VAF development support confirmed € 25.000
  VAF production support confirmed € 100.000
  CANVAS (coproduction) confirmed € 7.500
  Broadcasters (ARTE,…) tbc € 25.000
  Media+ confirmed € 30.000
  participation prod company Off World € 4.822
  tax shelter tbc total: 100.000€ International Coproduction tbc € 60.000
- Production schedule
- release: january 2013
- Beginning of shooting
- Jan 01, 2012