Kino Lorber will release Francisca Alegría’s elegiac environmental fable The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future in theaters later this year.

Making its World Premiere in the World Cinema Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future marks the feature debut of Chilean director Francisca Alegría, returning to the themes of environmental tragedy and family relationships introduced in her acclaimed Sundance-winning short film And the Whole Sky Fit in the Dead Cow’s Eye.

A choir of creatures introduces a world delicately constructed by fantasy, mystery, and magical realism in Francisca Alegría’s stunning debut, beginning in a river in the south of Chile where fish are dying due to pollution from the nearby cellulose factory. Amid their floating bodies, long-deceased Magdalena (Mia Maestro) bubbles up to the surface gasping for air, bringing with her old wounds and a wave of family secrets. The shocking return of Magdalena sends her widowed husband (Alfredo Castro) into turmoil and prompts their daughter, Cecilia (Leonor Varela), to return home to the family’s dairy farm with her own children. There, Magdalena’s presence reverberates among her family, instigating fits of laughter and despair in equal measure with all but Cecilia’s eldest child (Enzo Ferrada Rosati), who seeks their grandmother’s love and unconditional understanding during a time of transition. A lyrical rumination on family, renewal, and resurrection, The Cow Who Sang A Song Into The Future is an ambitious proposal for acceptance and healing, suggesting that the dead return when they are most needed.

“I feel very fortunate that Kino Lorber will distribute my first feature film in North America,” said Francisca Alegría. “The film came from a very personal place so it’s particularly special that Kino Lorber will bring it to audiences given their commitment to showcasing new voices and curating work that remains truthful to art house cinema.”