Watermelon Pictures Acquires North American Rights to Diego Luna's Migration Drama 'Ashes'

Watermelon Pictures has acquired North American rights to Ashes, the migration drama directed and co-written by Diego Luna, ahead of its screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2026 (Variety).

The deal brings Luna's second feature as director to theatrical audiences in the United States and Canada — "domestic," in the trade shorthand for those two markets together. Luna said he was pleased to partner with Watermelon Pictures on the release (Variety). Hamza Ali, co-founder of the distributor, welcomed Luna and the film to the company's slate.

Ashes follows Lucila, a young woman who leaves Mexico with her younger brother to reunite with their mother in Madrid after years apart. The mother left to build a better life in Spain eight years earlier; the film takes up the question of what uprooting costs a family across that distance (Screen Daily, Festival de Cannes).

The screenplay, written by Luna, Abia Castillo and Diego Rabasa, is adapted from the novel Ceniza en la boca, published in English as Eating Ashes, by Mexican author Brenda Navarro (Variety). It is Luna's second film in the director's chair, after his debut Mr. Pig (Festival de Cannes).

Anna Díaz and Adriana Paz lead an ensemble that includes Luisa Huertas, Guillermo Ríos, Sergio Bautista, Benny Emmanuel, Teresa Lozano and Adriana Jacomé (Variety). The film is a production of La Corriente del Golfo, Animal de Luz Films, Inicia Films and Perro Azul, with support from ICAA, Spain's state film institute. Producers are Inna Payan, Valérie Delpierre, Luis Salinas, Diego Rabasa and Diego Luna.

Ashes had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2026, where Luna discussed the project at a panel at the American Pavilion (IndieWire). It is slated to screen next at Toronto the following month — the festival circuit's standard relay from Cannes to TIFF that positions a film for autumn distribution conversations.

The North American deal was negotiated by Munir Atalla, head of production and acquisitions at Watermelon Pictures, and Jean-Benoit Henry, head of international sales at Luxbox, which represents worldwide sales on the title (Variety).

Netflix had already acquired rights to Ashes for Latin America, Spain and Portugal in the run-up to its Cannes premiere (Variety). That leaves Watermelon Pictures with theatrical duties for the US and Canada, while Netflix handles streaming for Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking territories.

What makes the deal notable is the split picture it completes. With Netflix holding Latin America, Spain and Portugal, and Watermelon Pictures now carrying North American theatrical, Ashes lands across two distribution models at once — a streaming giant for one set of territories and a boutique theatrical distributor for another. For a Spanish-language drama about migration, that is a wide reach.

No release date for the North American theatrical run has been announced.