Alief Secures Global Sales Rights For Omar Rodríguez-López’s Dystopian Sci-Fi ‘Luna Rosa: The 7th Ascension Of Atabey’

May 01, 2025 : U.K.-French film sales and production company Alief has acquired worldwide sales rights to “Luna Rosa: The 7th Ascension of Atabey”, the fourth feature from Puerto Rican director and musician Omar Rodríguez-López, frontman of Grammy-winning band The Mars Volta.

Described by Alief co-founder Miguel Angel Govea as Rodríguez-López’s “most cohesive, fully narrative film yet,” Luna Rosa is a sci-fi dystopian epic that unfolds in Borinquen — the Indigenous Taíno name for Puerto Rico. The film follows Zur’na (played by Flora Sylvestre), a woman navigating enemy territory under American colonial control to find her missing brother. Along the way, the film blends striking visuals with themes of mind control, resistance, and ritual, while offering a sharp critique of U.S. imperialism.

Shot in black and white in Mexico, the film features a hypnotic score co-composed by Rodríguez-López and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ guitarist John Frusciante, a frequent Mars Volta collaborator.

Alief is already fielding interest from Spain, Colombia, Argentina, and the U.K., while Piano is handling the film’s distribution in Mexico. Its U.K. premiere is set for June 6 at SXSW London, which has selected Luna Rosa as part of its official lineup. “It’s the exact intersection of artforms we want to champion,” said Anna Bogutskaya, SXSW London’s head of screen.

The film was produced by Rodríguez-López’s Telesterion Inc. alongside Mexican companies Kintsugi Cine, Peliculas Extrañas, and MalaCOSA Cine, and financed in part by Germany’s Clouds Hill Films, a division of the Clouds Hill Group, which also manages The Mars Volta’s music label.

Described by Piano Mexico’s Ester Bernal as “one of the most forward-thinking approaches to Latin American science fiction,” Luna Rosa draws influence from both classic Latin American cinema and cult B-movies, delivering what Alief calls an “unparalleled fantasy” fused with “a powerful social critique.”

Meanwhile, Rodríguez-López is already at work on his fifth feature film, a Western being shot in Texas. He was recently the subject of the documentary “Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird” by Nicolas Jack Davies.

Alief’s Cannes 2025 slate includes a diverse mix of global genre films, such as “Glorious Summer” (Poland), “Bokshi” (India), “Mongrels” (Canada/Korea), “Horizonte” (Colombia/France/Germany), and “Edge of Summer” (BBC Films).