Emeraude Toubia is set to star in the high-concept horror film “Rosario,” the debut feature of director Felipe Vargas, who will shoot the pic in his native country of Colombia.
Toubia, whose credits include the Freeform fantasy series “Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments” and Gloria Calderón Kellett’s new Amazon Studios series “With Love,” stars as Rosario, a successful Wall Street broker forced to confront an unthinkable and otherworldly evil.
When her estranged grandmother suddenly dies, Rosario has to spend the night with the body while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Trapped in the apartment by a heavy snowstorm and surrounded by unfriendly neighbors, Rosario is attacked by menacing supernatural forces that have possessed her grandmother’s corpse.
The target of a deadly family curse that spans generations, Rosario must battle everything she knows about her past to save herself and her soul in a desperate attempt to break the evil.
“Growing up on my grandmother’s campfire tales of witchcraft and the macabre, I’m thrilled to bring to life this terrifying story of an evil family curse,” said Vargas, who won a 2021 DGA Student Film Award for his horror short “Milk Teeth.”
“It’s an honor to film this roller coaster ride of horror in my home country of Colombia alongside an extraordinary team. We can’t wait for the world to meet Rosario!”
Written by Alan Trezza (“We Summon the Darkness”), “Rosario” is financed and produced by Mucho Mas Media alongside Silk Mass. Highland Film Group is handling worldwide rights and launching sales at the Cannes Film Market.
Production is set to start in June in Bogotá, Colombia, and New York City.
Silk Mass’ Jon Silk and Mucho Mas’ Javier Chapa and Phillip Braun are producing the film. Executive producing are Highland Film Group’s Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier as well as Toubia, Bruce Barshop, Vincent Cordero and Simon Wise.
“We’re excited for audiences to see Felipe’s vision for this come to life on the big screen,” said producers Silk, Chapa and Braun. “Felipe has tapped into the heart and pain that powers this incredible script, and with the winning charisma and complicated undertones that Emeraude brings to all of her performances, we’re confident audiences will fear for, and fall in love with, Rosario.”
Fraser added, “We are so pleased to be working with the rising actress Emeraude Toubia in this smart and chilling film in the vein of the Blumhouse movies.”
“Set against the sleek backdrop of New York City, ‘Rosario’ is a bold, intense and twisted horror film and we cannot wait for cameras to roll on this exciting project,” Perrier stressed.
Vargas is repped by CAA and Magnolia Entertainment, while Toubia is represented by UTA, Vision Entertainment and Goodman Genow Schenkman.
Highland Film Group’s current sales slate also includes Joe Carnahan’s survival thriller “Not Without Hope,” starring Zachary Levi; Simon West’s action comedy “Old Guy,” with Christoph Waltz; Jess Varley’s sci-fi thriller “The Astronaut,” featuring Emma Roberts and Laurence Fishburne; and Dimitri Logothetis’ actioner “Gunner,” starring Morgan Freeman and Luke Hemsworth.