Watermelon Pictures Buys Diego Luna's 'Ashes' for U.S., Canada
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Watermelon Pictures acquired U.S. and Canadian theatrical rights to Diego Luna's "Ashes" ahead of its Toronto International Film Festival premiere, with Variety breaking the news.
- Anna Díaz plays 21-year-old Lucila in "Ashes," who relocates from Mexico to Spain to reunite with her mother (Adriana Paz); critics at Cannes singled out Díaz's lead performance for praise.
- Diego Luna, who directed and co-wrote "Ashes," called the film "deeply personal" and said it responds to the demonization of immigrants "under Donald Trump and throughout the world," calling such politics "based on ignorance and selfishness."
- Watermelon Pictures was founded in 2024 by brothers Badie and Hamza Ali to present complex portraits of Palestinians and Arabs, later broadening its mandate to edgy indie fare including the Academy Award-nominated "The Voice of Hind Rajab" and "The Six Billion Dollar Man."
- Netflix signed a deal at Cannes to distribute "Ashes" across Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, while North American theatrical release plans remain to be announced.
- The acquisition was negotiated by Munir Atalla of Watermelon and Jean-Benoit Henry of Luxbox, which handles worldwide sales; "Ashes" adapts Brenda Navarro's novel "Ceniza en la boca" (published in English as "Eating Ashes").
Why it matters: By acquiring a Mexican migrant drama that explicitly targets anti-immigrant demonization, Watermelon Pictures—a label founded to spotlight Palestinian and Arab stories—extends its indie mandate into transborder solidarity cinema. With Netflix having already locked Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, the deal makes Watermelon Luna's North American distributor of record; the release date remains unannounced.
Ask SkimNews
