The action film “Free Dead or Alive,” starring Portuguese actress Anna Carvalho and telling a story of emigration to the United States, opens Tuesday at the Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills, ahead of its world premiere.
“I have high expectations,” the Portuguese actress told the Lusa agency, referring to the quality of the script and production and the various awards the film has won this year.
“Free Dead or Alive” even became the first film to win all five major categories at the California Women’s Film Festival (CWFF), taking home Best Picture, Best Achievement, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Actor.
Directed by Erik Bernard, the TLG Pictures film stars Edy Ganem (“Mad and Mean”), Seth Michaels (“Red Warning”) and Patricia Velasquez (“The Mummy”) in the lead roles.
“It is not only a story of emigrants, it is also a love story between mother and daughter”, explained Anna Carvalho. “At first it is a relationship that is not very healthy. Then there is a reunion and the mother ends up trying to save her daughter from her”.
The action centers on the journey of young Eva (Edy Ganem) as she flees an arranged marriage with a drug dealer and seeks to cross the border into the United States. Anna Carvalho plays one of the illegal immigrants in the United States, who also flees poverty and violence in search of the American dream, emigrating from her country.
“I am one of the migrants who is fleeing to the United States on a clandestine train,” he said. “These are trains that really exist and in which many emigrants die,” he stressed. “During my career I am raped in front of my family and they are the people who end up saving me.”
Carvalho, who has lived in the United States since 2015, said that the film does not delve into the political issues associated with illegal immigration, but it generates empathy for the situations that illegal migrants face.
“It is horrible what these immigrants go through and what women have to go through, because they want to save their family,” he considered.
“This is a story in the United States, but we in Europe know that these situations exist,” the actress said, pointing to refugees who have fled Ukraine since February following the invasion by Russian forces.
“There are horrible people who take advantage of these moments to extort and abuse these people who are fragile and need help,” he stressed. “It is not only what is happening in America, but what is happening in the world and now so close to us, with the war in Ukraine.”
Executive produced by Courtney LeMarco, “Free Dead or Alive” will be distributed by 1091 Pictures and will be available on all digital platforms including Amazon, iTunes and Google Play.
In addition to the protagonists, it features actors Alejandro De Hoyos (“The Man from Toronto”), Robert Avellanet (“Menudo: Forever Young”), Al Coronel (“Westworld”) and Juan Pablo Olyslager (“The Curse of the Weeping woman”).”).
Anna Carvalho has a career spanning more than twenty years in theater and film. He participated in several films and series and directed the independent short film “Death is the Place on Earth”, with which he won several awards, including the Award for Excellence, from the Curve International Film Festival, and the Special Talent Jury Award. Independent. Film Festival.
Source: Observadora
