S Y N O P S I S

Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life: her daughter, her job, her AA meetings. This is blown open when Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past.

D I R E C T O R ’ S
B I O G R A P H Y

Filmmaker Michel Franco was born in 1979 in Mexico City and has helped put Mexican cinema in the global spotlight. The films he has written, directed, and produced include NEW ORDER (Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, Venice Film Festival 2020) CHRONIC (Best Screenplay Award, Cannes Film Festival 2015), APRIL'S DAUGHTERS (Jury Prize, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival 2017), and AFTER LUCIA (Top Prize, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival 2012). Among the films he has produced are 600 MILLAS (directed by Gabriel Ripstein, Best First Feature Award, Berlinale 2015) and FROM AFAR (directed by Lorenzo Vigas, Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival 2015). His most recent film, SUNDOWN, a drama starring Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg, premiered at Venice in 2021. In September 2023, Michel will return to Venice for his third time with his current recent project, MEMORY, a film starring Academy Award-winner Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard.


Selected director's filmography:

2023 Memory
2021 Sundown
2020 New Order (Nuevo Orden)
2017 April’s daughter (Las hijas de abril)
2015 Chronic
2013 Through the eyes (A los ojos)
2012 After Lucia (Después de Lucía)
2009 Daniel and Ana (Daniel y Ana)

C O M M E N T S  O F 
T H E  D I R E C T O R

I wanted to make a film about people who for whatever reason fall through the cracks of society. Their inability—or unwillingness—to conform to expectations is often rooted in events that only exist in their memories. But sometimes their very marginalization offers an escape from the shadows of the past, a chance to build a life in the present.

Memory is about whether one can truly escape those shadows.

M A I N  C A S T
B I O G R A P H Y

Jessica Chastain

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Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain has received numerous nominations and accolades for her spectacular performances in front of the camera in a myriad of roles and behind the camera as a producer creating exemplary content.

Chastain can currently be seen in her critically acclaimed performance as country music legend Tammy Wynette in SHOWTIME’s limited series, GEORGE & TAMMY. Staring opposite Michael Shannon as George Jones, she earned a 2023 Screen Actors Guild award for “Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie” as well as Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. Says Awards Daily, “Chastain...is absolutely off the charts.” This limited series chronicles the country music power couple and their complicated relationship, based on the book “The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George,” written by the couple’s daughter, Georgette Jones. Produced by Freckle Films, GEORGE & TAMMY is currently streaming.

Also produced by Freckle Films in the psychological thriller MOTHER’S INSTINCT in which Chastain stars opposite Anne Hathaway. The film is set for release in 2023. Chastain will also soon be seen in the Michel Franco directed, MEMORY, opposite Peter Sarsgaard.

Returning to Broadway for the first time in over a decade, Chastain was recently seen in the thrilling revival of Henrik Ibsen’s 19th century classic, “A Doll’s House” for which she received a Tony nomination for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play.” For this role, she also won “Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play” at the Drama Desk Awards. Directed by Tony nominee Jamie Lloyd and adapted by acclaimed playwright Amy Herzog, this new production tells a story that has shocked audiences and brought forth a new era of theater. Chastain takes on the iconic role of Nora Helmer, a housewife with a secret that could destroy her perfect life, which may not be so perfect at all. Her performance has elicited brilliant reviews, from The Guardian who dubbed her “the greatest actress of her generation” to Time Out, stating “The superb Chastain keeps the tension high. The effect is like watching her in close-up. She is startlingly present. She brings down the house.”

Chastain’s starring role in 2021 as the incomparable Tammy Faye in THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE earned her the award for Best Actress at the 94th Annual Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards and Critics

Choice Awards. Produced by Freckle Films, the film also won the 2022 Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

Her recent work includes Netflix’s THE GOOD NURSE, HBO’s SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE, Universal’s THE 355, and Roadside Pictures’ THE FORGIVEN. Previously, she could be seen in the on-stage theater production of SALOME; IT CHAPTER 2; MOLLY’S GAME, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama; INTERSTELLAR; TREE OF LIFE; and ZERO DARK THIRTY, which earned her the 2013 Critics’ Choice Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and an Academy Award nomination.

In addition to her acclaimed work as an actor, Chastain launched Freckle Films, a New York based film and television production company, in 2016. In addition to THE 355, THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE, MOTHERS INSTINCT and GEORGE & TAMMY, Freckle Films is currently developing a series adaptation of the novel HIS & HERS written by Alice Feeney as well as THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS written by Jessamine Chan.

Peter Saarsgard

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Peter can most recently be seen in the Hulu limited series DOPESICK, opposite Michael Keaton, for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a limited series in 2022. He can be seen next starring in Michel Franco's MEMORY opposite Jessica Chastain, which will premiere in competition at this year's Venice Film Festival. Additionally, Peter stars in COUP!, which is also set to premiere at Venice Film Festival, in the Giornate degli Autori section.

Recently, he co-starred in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut feature THE LOST DAUGHTER, alongside Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, and Jessie Buckley. Previously, he co-starred in Matt Reeves’ THE BATMAN alongside Robert Pattinson, as well as Barry Levinson's THE SURVIVOR.

On the TV side, he previously starred as the lead in the CBS All-Access limited series INTERROGATION; as well as THE LOOMING TOWER for Hulu; and the final season of AMC’s THE KILLING.

Past feature credits include THE LIE for Blumhouse, alongside Joey King and directed by Veena Sud. Peter also starred in Pablo Larrain’s JACKIE in which he plays Robert Kennedy opposite Natalie Portman, as well as in Antoine Fuqua’s remake of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN in which he plays the villain ‘Bogue’. Peter also starred in Scott Cooper’s BLACK MASS, Ed Zwick's PAWN SACRIFICE and THE EXPERIMENTER (trailer below) in which he portrays famed social psychologist Stanley Milgram. Peter is best known for his critically acclaimed performances in AN EDUCATION, JARHEAD, BOYS DON’T CRY and SHATTERED GLASS.

He is represented by Anonymous Content, WME, and Peikoff Mahan.

M A I N  C A S T

Jessica Chastain as Sylvia
Peter Sarsgaard as Saul
Brooke Timber as Anna
Merritt Wever as Olivia
Elsie Fisher as Sara
Jessica Harper as Samantha
Josh Charles as Isaac

M A I N  C R E W

Director: Michel Franco
Scriptwriter: Michel Franco
Producers: Michel Franco, Eréndira Núñez Larios, Alex Orlovsky, Duncan Montgomery
Executive Producers: Paula P. Manzanedo, Moises Chiver, Jack Selby, Patricio Rabuffetti, Tatiana Emden, Joyce Zylberberg, Ralph Haiek, Michael Weber, Efe Cakarel, Bobby Allen, Jason Ropell
Photography: Yves Cape
Production Design: Claudio Ramírez Castelli
Editing: Oscar Figueroa Jara and Michel Franco
Sound: Javier Umpiérrez
Costume Design: Gabriela Fernández

I N T E R N A T I O N A L
P R E S S

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Claudia Tomassini & Associates

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US Press:

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Cinetic Marketing

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Tel. +1 9172547653

ryan@cineticmedia.com
isaac@cineticmedia.com