Based on true events, the psychological thriller To the North / Spre nord follows a young Romanian man who is trying to cross the Atlantic unapproved on board of a cargo-carrier. He is discovered by a faithful Filipino, who decides to risk his job in order to save him.
The main characters are played by the Filipino actors Soliman Cruz, Bart Guingona and Noel Sto. Domingo (who all previously worked with Lav Diaz) and the German-Romanian Niko Becker. The cast includes actors from the Philippines, France, Romania and Bulgaria.
The film is a coproduction between Romania, France, Greece, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, produced by deFilm in coproduction with Remora Films, Studio Bauhaus, Screening Emotions and Background Films.
The project was supported by the Romanian Film Centre (CNC), the Czech Film Fund, the Bulgarian Film Center, Région Île-De-France, Ekome - National Centre of Audiovisual Media and Communication, Wavemaker Romania, the Greek Film Center, ERT Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme, the Romanian Public Television (TVR), Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée, Angoa, Sedica and Sacem, in association with Arte/Cofinova 17, Avanpost Media, Best Friend Forever, Fulgurance Films and Magiclab.
The project had been developed at: EAVE Producer’s Workshop, EAVE Ties that Bind, ApostLab, Sofia Meetings, New Horizons Studio +, Transilvania Pitch Stop and Villa Kult Residency, supported by Renate Roginas.
To the North was shot in 2021 in Romania and Greece, and the postproduction was made in Romania, the Czech Republic and France.
Nicolas Becker, who previously worked for Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity and Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, is the sound designer, while Cyril Holtz, whose credits include Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’s Bacurau, and Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers, is the re-recording mixer. George Chiper-Lillemark, who co-directed and lensed Immaculate / Imaculat (Axel Film) and who also lensed Adina Pintilie’s Golden Bear winner Touch Me Not, produced by Romania’s Manekino Film in coproduction with RohFilm Productions (Germany), PINK from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria’s Agitprop Ltd and France’s Les Films de l'Étranger, is the DoP.
To the North will be released in Romania by Follow Art Distribution in the autumn of 2022.
The 79th Venice International Film Festival will be held 31 August – 10 September 2022.
