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Am I The Wave?, Alejandra Márquez Abella’s English-language adaptation of Francisco Goldman’s novel Say Her Name, has started principal photography with Manuel García-Rulfo and Renata Vaca in the leads, Deadline reported exclusively on 6 November. Juan de Dios Larraín of Fábula, William Horberg of Wonderful Films and Zak Kilberg produce. UTA Independent Film Group arranged financing and will sell the US; FilmNation Entertainment handles the rest of the world.
Key facts
- Title: Am I The Wave? (feature take of Goldman’s Say Her Name); director Alejandra Márquez Abella; screenplay Márquez Abella, Scott B. Smith and Goldman
- Cast: Manuel García-Rulfo, Renata Vaca; English-language; set between Brooklyn and Mexico City
- Producers: Juan de Dios Larraín (Fábula), William Horberg (Wonderful Films), Zak Kilberg; EPs include Pablo Larraín, Sarah Connors, Russell Smith, Michael Cleaver and others named by Deadline
- Finance / sales: EFICINE grant and Jalisco State tax credit and tourism board; UTA Independent Film Group (financing + domestic); FilmNation (international)
The package
The material difference for AFM-week buyers is that photography has started rather than sitting in packaging limbo. The story, drawn from Goldman’s account of his relationship with Mexican writer Aura Estrada, follows an American novelist splitting time between New York and Mexico City and a young writer establishing herself until a wave on an Oaxaca beach ends the romance. Márquez Abella called it a film about love that “bridges the cultural scenes of Mexico City and Brooklyn.”
Márquez Abella’s The Good Girls premiered at Toronto and drew 14 Ariel nominations; Northern Skies Over Empty Space won the Ariel for best picture after a Berlinale bow; she most recently directed Amazon MGM Studios’ A Million Miles Away. Scott B. Smith (A Simple Plan) co-wrote. Horberg, whose Wonderful Films credits include The Queen’s Gambit, said an excerpt of Goldman’s book published in The New Yorker as “The Wave” first drew him to the material.
Fábula’s Juan de Dios Larraín – whose producing slate has included A Fantastic Woman – framed the shoot as a collaboration backed by EFICINE. Deadline lists Obsidian Creek among the executive producers and names further EPs from She Spun Films, Convergent Media / Divergent Pictures, Foton Pictures and Irreversible Pictures. Budget, exact shoot locations beyond the Brooklyn–Mexico City setting, and a delivery window were not disclosed.
Why the sales split matters
Splitting domestic (UTA Independent Film Group) from international (FilmNation) is a familiar specialty-film structure: US buyers get a separate conversation from territorial sales agents working Latin America, Europe and Asia. EFICINE and the Jalisco incentive reduce the equity ask before those rooms open. For FilmNation, an English-language Mexican-authored love story with a recognisable US-Mexico cast is a clear specialty sell into festivals and limited theatrical, not a wide-release tentpole pitch. Prices, licence terms and whether any territory has already closed were not in the announcement.
The timing overlaps American Film Market week, when casting-led packages such as Rosamund Pike’s Feed and Jeremy Renner’s 12 Bullets are also circulating. Am I The Wave? differs in one respect those flyers do not share: production has started, so the sales conversation is about a film in progress rather than a paper package.
Our reading
Buyers should treat the EFICINE and Jalisco credits as soft money already in the plan, not as proof of a locked P&A commitment. The commercially useful signals are the Fábula producing credit, FilmNation’s international mandate, García-Rulfo’s dual-market recognition and a director with Ariel and Berlinale proof. What remains open – and what would move the title from announcement to closing – is a US distribution deal via UTA Independent Film Group and a festival premiere target once photography wraps.
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