Americano

AMERICANO is writer/director/co-star Mathieu Demy’s feature directorial debut that functions both as an homage to his famous parents, filmmakers Agnès Varda and Jacques Demy, and as a work that stands entirely on its own. The death of his mother draws a young Frenchman, Martin (Demy), back to his childhood home in Los Angeles as he prepares to wrap up his mother’s estate. Things become complicated when he discovers that she was very fond of a woman named Lola, who appears in her will. Martin combs Los Angeles for his mother’s mysterious friend and companion, finding no trace of her. Traumatized at the sight of his mother’s body in the morgue, he drives to Tijuana in search of Lola, thinking she should inherit his mother’s apartment. But is Lola, his childhood playmate, truly the woman who brightened his mother’s life in Los Angeles — or is she a darker femme fatale, echoing the titular screen character from one of Jacques Demy’s key works?

AMERICANO is a deeply moving drama about inheritance and legacy that deftly mines the past of a true-life filmmaking family, while at the same time weaving a mesmerizing fictional narrative about coming to terms with unattended grief and uncomfortable pasts. The film features a stellar cast that, perhaps not incidentally, includes the children of famous film personalities -- Geraldine Chaplin, Chiara Mastroianni and Demy himself -- in addition to Salma Hayek. An official selection at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, as well as the 2012 Rendezvous with French Cinema and COL•COA film festivals, the film has also screened at the Rio de Janeiro and BFI London film festivals. AMERICANO will open in New York and Los Angeles in late July, with a national rollout to follow.

“Martin's personal journey finds a fresh angle on a universal piece of wisdom. Every mother's son believes he's the star of his own life; "Americano" captures that humbling moment where one realizes perhaps he has only been a bit player in his parents' story, not the star, as initially believed.” – Peter DeBruge, Variety

"Actor-writer-director Mathieu Demy’s “Americano” positively overflows with cinematic pedigree (and also compelling, wistful atmosphere). Demy is the son of New Wave filmmaking legends Jacques Demy and Agnès Varda, and his costar, Chiara Mastroianni, is the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Italian superstar Marcello Mastroianni…a wry film about family secrets and trans-Atlantic identity.”-Andrew O'Hehir, Salon