DEFICIT (Gael Garcia Bernal)

Wednesday, September 13---------Mexican hearthrob Gael Garcia Bernal (AMORES PORRES, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES) has made his directorial debut, which is getting it s North American premeire here at the Toronto International Film Festival (after bowing at the Cannes Film Festival). DEFICIT is a low-budget drama that focuses on class differences in Mexico. The story is an adaptation of an episode of "Ruta 32," a series that his production company Canana Films has been developing for television. The production shingle is run by Garcia Bernal, his Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN co-star Diego Luna and producer Pablo Cruz.

The project began with an idea that Garcia Bernal had about a rich kid who has a party at his country house, to which he has invited a group of his friends. When his girlfriend does not show up at the last minute, the party's host meets another woman that he decides to take to bed. He starts giving his girlfriend wrong directions on how to get to the house, and uses his influence to tighten the social grip over his friends and "inferiors". Bernal plays Cristobal, the obnoxious rich kid, starring opposite an ensemble cast that includes Luz Cipriota as the Argentine beauty Dolores. The film offers a scathing commentary on class differences in the supposedly egalitarian Mexican high society, offering a unique view of Mexico's upper class.

At the press conference for the film, Bernal offered that "I was looking for a project that I felt I could bring something to....and then this project came up". Bernal is one of the most visible faces here in Toronto. Aside from DEFICIT, he is the star of Hector Babenco's latest film THE PAST, and serves as executive producer of COHOCHI, co-directed by  Israel Cardenas and Laura Amelia Guzman. Bernal has had a busy year. He has just finished shooting on BLINDNESS, the latest film from hot director Fernando Meirelles (CITY OF GOD) and will soon join the set of Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's English language debut, MAMMOTH.

Sandy Mandelberger, Toronto FF Dailies Editor