Kino Lorber Acquires U.S. Rights to Manuela Martelli’s Cannes Mystery “The Meltdown”

Kino Lorber has acquired the United States distribution rights to The Meltdown, a Cannes-screened film by Chilean actress and director Manuela Martelli, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The deal gives Kino Lorber a U.S. release pathway for the mystery, which the outlet describes as continuing Martelli’s focus on politically informed storytelling and character-driven suspense.

The Hollywood Reporter characterizes The Meltdown as an exploration of Chile’s political history told through the experience of “strong and complex female protagonists.” The premise centers on a girl whose investigation unfolds through the disappearance of a friend and the slow surfacing of buried secrets, with the narrative structured as a mystery that connects private life to larger historical forces.

Kino Lorber is positioning the acquisition as part of its ongoing commitment to auteur-led international cinema. While specific release formats and dates were not stated in the information provided, the acquisition reflects the company’s role in bringing non-U.S. films into American viewership, particularly titles that travel internationally after festival exposure.

For Martelli, the project follows a career arc that The Hollywood Reporter frames in terms of her evolution from performer to filmmaker. The outlet’s summary ties her directing work to a sustained interest in how power and politics shape everyday lives, and it credits The Meltdown with continuing that approach through a cast centered on women and through the film’s emphasis on relationships under pressure.

The Meltdown’s story elements, as described by The Hollywood Reporter, include a girl-led viewpoint, a vanished friend, and information that is concealed and then revealed over time. The outlet also emphasizes that the plot’s secrets are not treated as background detail, but as central drivers of the suspense and of the film’s broader historical inquiry.

Because the available details do not specify the exact U.S. release schedule or the distribution window terms, those items should be treated as pending announcements from Kino Lorber. In the meantime, the acquisition sets up a near-term spotlight for Martelli’s Cannes title within the U.S. market as distributors and platforms line up festival-following releases.

The deal also underlines how U.S. distributors continue to invest in internationally sourced catalog titles after festival premieres, rather than relying solely on domestic productions. For audiences following global cinema, the acquisition offers a direct path to a politically inflected mystery with a character-centric emphasis and a female-forward narrative structure as described by the reporting.