Chris Zalla ’04 is the writer and director of Radical, which will be released theatrically in the US and Mexico on October 20, 2023.
3Pas Studios, Pantelion Films, and Participant have partnered for the theatrical release. The film was produced through 3Pas Studios, co-founded by Ben Odell ’04 and the award-winning actor, writer, director, and producer Eugenio Derbez, who also stars in Radical.
Inspired by a Wired Magazine article by Joshua Davis, Radical follows the sixth grade students at Jose Urbina Lopez Elementary—one of the worst performing schools in Mexico. The world these students know is one of violence and hardship, and their classrooms are dominated by an atmosphere of overbearing discipline, not possibility. It might seem like a dead end, but it is also the perfect place for new teacher Sergio Juarez (played by Derbez) to try something different. There’s just one problem: Sergio has no idea what he’s doing.
“We are so excited to bring Radical to as wide an audience as possible, giving us the opportunity to share this powerful story with both Eugenio’s massive core audience as well as the specialty market,” Odell said in a statement to Deadline. “To reach these very different markets and audiences, we could not be more thrilled to bring together the team behind most of Eugenio’s box office successes, combined with Participant’s theatrical expertise and unsurpassed social impact engine.”
The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Festival Favorite Award from a pool of over 100 films. 2023 marked a return to Sundance for Zalla, whose 2007 film Padre Nuestro won the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize.
“The process of making the film was extraordinary serendipity,” Zalla said in an interview with Deadline. “I’m so grateful for how this project worked out because I honestly don’t think I would have been able to make this movie had I not become a father. At the end of the day, it’s a movie about teachers, but it’s also a movie about learning from our children.”
Watch a preview clip for Radical here.
