Screenwriting alum Constanza Majluf '21 will start production on her first feature film titled Pink Desert, or, Desierto Rosa, later this year. Described as a dramatic narrative, Pink Desert tells the story of Mariola, known as Mario, who lives in a mining town in Northern Chile in 1970. After being invited to travel with a theater company of cross-dressers to Lima, Mariola starts to discover who she’s always wanted to be, returning to Chile to both affirm her identity and face large political and social changes within her country. "In Chile and Latin America, we are entering a stage very similar to the one portrayed in Pink Desert where extremist political positions are failing to guarantee the rights that began to be achieved more than 50 years ago. As an actress and artist, I consider Pink Desert urgent and necessary," said the film's executive producer Daniela Vega.
Pink Desert previously won the Albert P. Sloan Screenplay Award in 2020 and participated in the Cine Qua Non Screenwriting Lab, the Estelab Latin America-Europe co-production lab, and the Curso de Desarrollo de Proyectos Iberamericanos, among other prestigious labs.
In addition to Vega, who also acts in the film, Pink Desert’s production team includes Rodrigo Díaz and Juan de Dios Larraín. Diaz’s past projects include Do Not Let Me Die Alone, by Chile’s Francisco Rodríguez Teare, which won two top awards at this year’s San Sebastián Co-Production Forum. Larraín was the producer of Pablo Larrain’s films Jackie, Spencer, and Maria. Pink Desert is co-written by Ignacio Juricic, winner of the Cannes Queer Palm for Lost Queens.
Constanza Majluf is a Chilean, award-winning director who has worked in Chile, Spain, Peru, Cuba, and the United States. Majluf started her career as an actress in the series The Motorcycle Diaries where she played the sister, and then in Pablo Larraín’s Post Mortem where she played the role of the nurse. She worked as an assistant director on Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno and Knock Knock. Most recently she directed the series Wings of Fire: The Dragon Slayer Is My Ex-Lover to much acclaim.
