Martin Scorsese has come onboard Evolution, the new film from Pieces of a Woman director Kornél Mundruczó and screenwriter Kata Weber, as an executive producer.
Scorsese was an executive producer on Pieces of a Woman, joining the project after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2020, a move credited with raising the profile of the drama and helping the film’s awards run. The film netted star Vanessa Kirby an Oscar nomination for best actress.
Evolution, a multigenerational drama that moves back and forth in time, from a surreal memory of World War II to modern-day Berlin, tracing the lingering psychic wounds of the Holocaust, premiered this year at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Evolution was not picked as Hungary’s entry for the Academy’s 2022 best international feature category — Peter Bergendy’s period horror Post Mortem will represent the country — but Scorsese’s involvement could focus attention on the movie. Given its subject matter and the cache of Scorsese, and of Weber and Mundruczó following Pieces of a Woman, it could be a dark horse in the Oscar race.
“Every new movie by Kornél Mundruczó and Kata Weber comes as a welcome shock to the senses for the viewer and for the filmmaker — they never stop advancing into uncharted territory,” Scorsese said in a statement. “With Evolution, they find a way to dramatize the movement of time itself, the ways that we remember and the ways that we forget. Evolution looks directly into the face of truly unsettling realities in a way that’s new and exciting, even liberating. It’s the work of genuine cinematic storytellers.”
Mundruczó said for he and Weber the film was an opportunity “to explore this ever-changing concept of identity, for ourselves and the generations both before us and after. The fact that this extremely personal triptych of stories spoke to Mr. Scorsese means the world to us, and we hope audiences will find their own reflections on identity in watching it as well.”
Match Factory Productions produced Evolution in cooperation with ZDF/ARTE and Proton Theatre. The Match Factory is handling world sales.
