Carlos Reygadas backs Christine Haroutounian's Asian Project Market title ‘Black Star Angel’

EXCLUSIVE: Cannes award-winner Carlos Reygadas is to executive produce upcoming drama Black Star Angel by rising director Christine Haroutounian.

Mexico’s Reygadas, who won best director at Cannes with Post Tenebras Lux in 2012, reunites with US-Armenian filmmaker Haroutounian after supporting her debut feature After Dreaming, which premiered at this year’s Berlinale and is playing at Busan.

Haroutounian was selected for the Asian Project Market (APM), which runs September 20-23 as part of the Asian Contents & Film Market, taking place alongside Busan International Film Festival.

Speaking to Screen, the filmmaker said: “Carlos’s support is a reminder that I am not alone as a director. This industry is in shambles and After Dreaming was quite challenging to make. Creative risk has more liability than payoff these days so having the recognition and respect of a true artist was very grounding.

“We have a natural kinship and he continues his support with Black Star Angel. Right now, the funding is coming together and he is willing to help in whatever way makes sense for the film.”

The proposed budget for the Armenia-US feature is under $1m and the project has already secured $200,000 from the Cinema Foundation of Armenia as well as $75,000 private equity.

Set between Jerusalem, Armenia and Paris, the story will follow a woman who enlists in a war after her life begins to crumble. Partially inspired by real events following the 2020 Nagorno-Karabagh war, it will depict the recruitment of female conscripts using an “abrupt, corporeal, and kinetic” approach.

Producers are Haroutounian and Maxwell Schwartz of Mankazar Film, a production company based in Yerevan and Los Angeles. A shoot is planned to start by spring 2027.

The filmmaker is meeting with potential finance, co-production and international sales partners at the APM in Busan.

“APM has been excellent so far,” she said. “My days are packed with useful meetings and it has been twice as important as I am screening After Dreaming at Busan. Many people were able to watch it in a theatre here then come to discuss Black Star Angel.

“[After Dreaming] is hyper-specific to the Armenian diaspora experience but so many people from all over the world still find themselves in it.”

After Dreaming was picked up for sales by UK-France outfit Alief, following its world premiere in the Berlinale Forum.

Based between the US and Armenia, Haroutounian’s short film credits include World, which was selected for Rotterdam in 2020 and won the Golden Apricot Stone Prize at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan.