Nunez to direct El Lector for Jane Startz, Lucky Monkey

Flaminia Ocampo and Nunez wrote the screenplay based on the novel by William Durbin set in the Latin enclave of Ybor City, Florida, where a young girl aspires to entertain and enlighten cigar factory workers by reading them literature and news each day.

Jane Startz Productions and Lauren Versel and Maria Teresa Arida’s Lucky Monkey Pictures are producing the film.

“Lucky Monkey is thrilled to work with Victor Nunez, who brings the perfect sensibility to EL Lector,” Versel said.

“I have long admired Victor’s work,” Startz added. “El Lectoris emblematic of the kind of films for which Victor is most well known: memorable portraits of complex characters struggling against personal adversity in his home state of Florida.”

Nunez wrote and directed Ulee’s Gold and is a founding member of the Independent Feature Project.

Lucky Monkey Pictures most recently produced City Island and is lining up the mid-July start of principal photography on Vamps.

Jane Startz Productions is currently working with screenwriter Zach Dean and director Ole Bornedal on The Cold Kiss, as well as The Lord Of The Nutcracker Men.