EXCLUSIVE: Pluto Film has acquired worldwide sales rights to The Matriarch, the second feature from German-Vietnamese filmmaker Alison Kuhn.
Germany-based Pluto will launch sales on the film at next month’s Cannes Marché du Film.
The Matriarch tells the story of Kim, a 17-year-old girl living with her emotionally distant mother, mute younger brother, and with Vietnamese refugees hiding in a concealed space in their apartment.
Her mother is a key figure in a criminal network of human trafficking operations. When her associate defects to start a rival operation, Kim seizes her chance to prove herself, while also navigating her first romance.
The film is produced by Philipp Goeser and Martin Lehwald for Schiwago Film, with Paula Elina Klossner and Stephan Buske for Tidewater Pictures, both of Germany.
“The Matriarch is not only a personal story rooted in Alison’s heritage,” said Daniela Colle, managing director and head of acquisitions at Pluto Film. “It’s a genre-driven exploration of a complex mother/daughter relationship that we are convinced will resonate with audiences worldwide.”
The Matriarch participated in the works-in-progress strand at Les Arcs Film Festival last year. It is Kuhn’s second feature after 2025’s Holy Meat, which played festivals including Filmfest Munchen and Cinequest.
“I’ve always felt the urge to tell a story set within the German Vietnamese community I was born into,” said Kuhn. “To explore the complex, often unspoken dynamics of mother/daughter relationships within it. Through extensive conversations with members of the diasporic community in Berlin, I encountered recurring emotional patterns: intergenerational tensions, inherited trauma and, to my surprise, the persistent presence of human trafficking - a subject that remains largely unnoticed by the wider German public.”
“The passion and commitment that Benjamin [Colle, Pluto Film managing director] and Daniela Colle and their team bring to this project - for the film, for its story and for Alison’s vision - convinced us immediately that we are in the best possible hands,” said Goeser. “We look forward to this being the first of many shared projects.”
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