Celina Murga's 'The Rehearsals' Sets Uruguay Shoot for 2028 as Argentine-Uruguayan Co-Production Seeks International Partners

Celina Murga, the Argentine filmmaker whose work has earned recognition at the Berlin International Film Festival and the backing of Martin Scorsese, is developing her next feature under the working title 'The Rehearsals,' an Argentine-Uruguayan co-production currently in active development with a planned shoot in Uruguay in 2028. For professionals working in international arthouse cinema, particularly those with roots in Latin American production or experience on European co-productions, this is a project worth getting on your radar early. The development timeline is long, but productions of this scale and pedigree begin assembling key department heads well before cameras roll, and the co-production forum circuit Murga is currently navigating is precisely where financing deals close and crew conversations begin.

Murga wrote and will direct the film, which centers on Eva, a 48-year-old woman navigating the slow, consuming reality of her mother Emilia's Alzheimer's diagnosis. The story unfolds in a shared household occupied by two caregivers, a teenage son, and Eva's younger sister, and it blends a grounded domestic realism with surreal, mythic imagery, most notably a recurring mysterious presence of bulls surrounding the family home. It is exactly the kind of formally ambitious, emotionally precise work Murga has built her reputation on. Her 2013 feature 'The Third Side of the River' (La tercera orilla) screened in the main competition at the Berlinale, and her 2013 documentary feature 'The Freshly Cut Grass' was presented under the banner of Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project, a meaningful endorsement that brought international attention to her work. Crew who have worked on similarly crafted Latin American arthouse productions will recognize the sensibility immediately: intimate in scale, demanding in craft, with a visual language that requires a strong partnership between the director, cinematographer, and production designer.

Uruguay-based Alterna Media is leading the production, with executive producers Maria Laura Berch, Joaquin Romero Vercellino, and Lucia Vela attached. Alterna Media has been an active participant in Uruguay's growing international co-production ecosystem, which has matured considerably over the past decade as the country positioned itself as a serious player in Latin American arthouse cinema. The project is currently participating in the San Sebastián Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, one of the most important financing and partnership marketplaces for exactly this kind of film. Participation there signals that the producers are actively closing European co-production arrangements, which would bring additional financing, potential distribution commitments, and likely some European department head involvement depending on the final deal structure.

Uruguay is the confirmed shooting location, and the country's audiovisual tax credit, which covers up to 30 percent of eligible production expenditures, is a significant driver of that choice. Uruguay's production infrastructure has expanded in recent years, particularly in Montevideo, which serves as the hub for most foreign and co-productions based in the country. The local crew base is capable and experienced in the kind of intimate, character-driven filmmaking this project demands, though productions of international scale often bring in department heads from Argentina, Brazil, or Europe depending on the co-production partners involved. For Argentine and Uruguayan crew professionals especially, this represents a real opportunity to pursue a project with genuine international reach. Location-wise, the film's surreal visual elements, particularly the image of bulls encircling a domestic space, suggest the production will require both controlled interior environments and carefully scouted rural or semi-rural exterior locations, making this an interesting challenge for any locations department or production designer who comes aboard.

As a feature film in development with a 2028 production start, 'The Rehearsals' is squarely in the financing and packaging phase right now. No casting has been announced, no director of photography has been named publicly, and the full crew has not yet been assembled. That said, projects like this, built around a specific directorial vision and moving through the co-production forum circuit, tend to begin attaching key creative collaborators, particularly the DP and production designer, once anchor financing is secured. The film's blend of realism and magical imagery will place real demands on those departments, and the right collaborators will need to be aligned with Murga's aesthetic from early in pre-production. Union status and final scale will depend on which co-production territories ultimately come aboard, but productions emerging from the San Sebastián forum with European partners often operate under MEDIA-adjacent agreements with corresponding crew and labor considerations.

ProductionList.com will continue tracking 'The Rehearsals' as it moves through development and into pre-production. If you are a cinematographer, production designer, locations manager, or producer with experience in Latin American or European arthouse co-productions, bookmarking this listing now means you will be positioned to reach out when the project enters active prep. Check the full listing on ProductionList.com for the latest updates on production contacts, the Alterna Media team, and any financing or casting announcements as they are confirmed. The 2028 start gives you time to plan, but the co-production process moves on its own timeline and conversations with key collaborators often happen earlier than the calendar suggests.

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