RT Features’ ‘Bodies of Summer,’ From Berlin Winner Iván Fund, Starring Lee Kang-sheng, Miranda de la Serna and Marcelo Subiotto, Unveils First Look (EXCLUSIVE)

RT Features, behind James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” and Walter Salles’ Oscar winner “I’m Still Here,” has announced a star cast of Taiwan’s Lee Kang-sheng and Argentina’s Miranda de la Serna and Marcelo Subiotto for “Bodies of Summer.”

A speculative sci-fi drama, the film marks the latest from Fund, who leaped to international attention last year winning a Berlin Silver Bear Jury Prize for “The Message.” “Bodies of Summer” is produced in partnership with Rita Cine, Fund’s longtime producer. RT Features has also shared in exclusivity with Variety a first look from the film.

The announcement comes just weeks after Rami Kodeih’s “Furies,” produced by RT Features, screened at the Venice Film Festival, and Benjamín Naishtat’s “Glaxo” premiered at TIFF before segueing to San Sebastián, where it contends in main competition for its Golden Shell.

Both and now “Bodies of Summer” underscore Teixeira’s drive into global cinema, which could well form one subject of his interview on Tuesday at San Sebastián’s Creative Investors Conference, organized by the festival and CAA Media Finance. “Bodies of Summer” is set in a not-so-distant future where death is no longer definitive. A body whose resources are exhausted can have its consciousness survive in a digital limbo, then come back in a different body. That doesn’t come free of charge, however. Rana, after 100 years as data, comes back to life in a frail, inexpensive body, the only one he can afford. “Back in the physical world, he sets out to find his son, now an elderly man who has chosen to die naturally and permanently, defying the logic of a society that has made death optional,” the synopsis runs.

When announced, “Bodies of Simmer” was described in a press statement as “an ambitious adaptation that blends speculative science fiction with an intimate exploration of family, mortality, and human connection.” It departs from a screenplay Fund wrote with Martín Felipe Castagnet, based on Castagnet’s awarded novel of the same name.

“Bodies of Summer” marks the duo’s third feature together after co-penning “Dusk Stone,” which bowed at the Venice Festival’s 2021 Venice Days, and “The Message.” As Variety noted announcing the film, “Bodies of Summer” signs in as a third feature from Fund which explores a world moving between life to death, while toying with genre and knit by original, unusual narratives which fascinate their fans.

Lee Kang-sheng is best known for his three-decade collaboration with auteur Tsai Ming-liang, whose naturalistic, minimalist screen presence has extended to acclaimed work with directors like Yeo Siew Hua on “Stranger Eyes.”

Actor, producer and writer Miranda de la Serna starred opposite Leonardo Sbaraglia in “Wandering Heart.”

Marcelo Subiotto’s recent credits include Fund’s “The Message” (2025) and RT Features’ “Glaxo,” where he delivers a powerhouse performance as a heinous police commissioner.

Breaking out internationally by producing U.S. directors such as Noah Baumbach (“Frances Ha,” 2013) and Robert Eggers (“The Witch,” 2016), Teixeira has increasingly grown its slate of Latin American productions which also includes Chilean Dominga Sotomayor’s “La Perra,” a Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title, and Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante’s upcoming dramatic thriller “República Luminosa.”

The company’s 2026 slate has also taken in Gustavo Vinagre and Gurcius Gewdner’s “Bowells of Hell,” which premiered at the IFF Rotterdam, and Gabe Klinger’s “Isabel,” which premiered at Berlin.

Naman Ramachandran contributed to this article.