Variety
Latido Films, the sales company on Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” and “The Platform,” has unveiled a slew of over 30 sales deals on a wide-ranging slate of titles, led by a U.S. pick-up on “All the Names of God,” a bouquet of transactions on “Aire,” the Dominican Republic’s Oscar entry, and an HBO regional licensing deal on “Saturn Return,” Spain’s Academy Award submission.
The deals are announced as Latido hits the American Film Market with Jim Sheridan and David Merriman’s “Re-Creation,” one of its hottest tickets, and Toronto Platform winner “They Will Be Dust,” which has clinched an early sale with Taiwan’s Sky Digi, with others in the offing.
“We have great hopes for ‘Re-Creation,’ Jim Sheridan’s trial film. He has been incredibly committed to tell this story, who I think is probably one of his more personal since ‘In the Name of the Father,’” said Latido’s Antonio Saura.
“Also, the challenge he has taken, to re-try an already judged case, to see if in the real-life trial all the elements were presented, if they condemned or not an innocent man, this is an amazing achievement in a very good film. It will be a great trial film, but with a solid base in reality, something that is not the case in most trial stories.”
“Carlos Marques-Marcet is definitively one of the key directors in Spain now. We really hope buyers can see that this film is a must-have,” Saura added.
A notable new title to the building but still limited output of genre films made by women directors in Latin America, “Aire,” as other titles – think “Huesera” – is part mystery thriller, and part social issue drama, set in a world of 2147 where humanity is on the edge of extinction after a Great Chemical War, charting a toxic three-way relationship between a bunker dwelling survivor, her AI system, voiced by Paz Vega, and a sudden male intruder.
Major territory sales take in Germany, with Pandastorm Pictures, who other pickups include Fantasia hit “New Life,” and Tarantino-esque botched bank robbery ‘The Last Stop in Yuma County.” Palace Films, a buyer of Sorrentino’s “Parthenope” and Stéphane Brizé’s “Out of Season,” has acquired all rights to “Aire” for Australia, while Smile Ent. (“Spring, Again,” “Beautiful Days”) has closed South Korea.
Hungary (Pannonian), Taiwan (AV Jet) and Bulgaria (Beta Film) has also acquired «Aire”, which talks about environmental crisis, human distancing and women’s right to decide what to do with their bodies.
In other titles, Myriad has pounced on U.S. all rights to “All the Names of God,” from Calparsoro, with “Cell 211’s” Luis Tosar as a terrorist hostage, forced to walk main Madrid thoroughfare, the Gran Vía, with a bomb strapped to his chest. With Latido now presenting “All the Names of God” in the Remakes section of the Spanish Screening on Tour at the AFM this year, the original is almost sold worldwide.
Both “Aire” and “God” are genre films. “We are seeing more interest for genre films than what we receive for our quality drama, and we have great quality dramas. It seems that in these complex post pandemic times, genre is more demanded by audiences, and drama requires more effort to sell to markets,” said Saura.
Inspired by the story of the Spanish indie rock band Los Planetas, on the cusp of its big late ‘90s breakthrough, but making mockery of biopic clichés, “Saturn Return,” from Isaki Lacuesta, has made an early sale to HBO Central Europe.
Latido has also closed with Brazil-based Encripta for Latin American all rights to a 15-pic package taking in “Aire” as well as Elena Trapé’s “The Enchanted,” with Laia Costa (“Lullaby”), Swiss social drama “La Mif,” a Berlin winner, Carla Subirana’s fiction feature debut “Sica,” a Berlinale Generation player, Rocío Mesa’s first feature “Tobacco Barns,” which premiered at San Sebastian’s New Directors and Arantxa Echevarria’s coming-of-age drama “Chinas.”
“New companies are occupying the role of some of the bigger platforms and finding creative ways of presenting movies to their audiences. We’re really pleased with what Encripta is going to do with those fantastic titles,” Saura noted.
An SVOD platform covering all Latin America, “Encripta provides a portfolio of services to make films available to the maximum number of people. They are expanding and we really like how they work films,” he added.
Reducing some members of a Malaga Fest theater audience to tears, Alex Montoya’s stylish family drama “La Casa,” one of Latido’s most enthusiastically received titles of the last year, has closed Greece with One from the Heart.
“The market is changing so fast that we are really happy to have a big palette of films, from award-winning movies like ‘Saturn Returns’ to genre films like another Oscar submission ‘Aire’ – also a festival darling, premiering at Rotterdam – and another of our biggest bets, “Raqa” from award winning and successful director Gerardo Herrero, among others, and also art house darlings like ‘They Will be Dust,’” Saura concluded.