Actualités

In a vibrant move reinforcing its commitment to Brazilian cinema, Paris-based MPM Premium has announced its acquisition of “Betânia,” prior to its Berlinale bow. The film will world premiere in the diverse Panorama strand of the festival.

The announcement marks another stride in MPM Premium’s journey of accompanying new and established Brazilian directors, having previously supported works from Sundance-selected Iuli Gerbase’s “The Pink Cloud” to Berlinale hits like Flavia Neves’ “Fogaréu” and renowned Karim Aïnouz recent experimental docs (“Nardjes A.” “Mariner of the Mountains.”)

“Set in a magical place – the sand dunes of Lençois in Northern Brazil – Betânia is a heartfelt portrait of a community observing the end of the world as they know it,” Quentin Worthington, head of sales and acquisitions at MPM Premium, told Variety.

“Far from playing a sad tone, we got euphoric with self-affirmed characters larger than life, a catchy music playing to our...

L.A.-based Outsider Pictures, a U.S. distribution hub for emerging Spanish-language cinema, has secured North American rights to 2020 Ventana Sur Primer Corte title “Fogaréu,” the debut feature from burgeoning Brazilian director Flávia Neves.

The deal, brokered between Outsider (“Blanquita”) and France’s MPM Premium New Visions arm (“The Pink Cloud”), follows the film’s world premiere at Berlinale’s Panorama in 2022, where it snagged the third place Audience Award.

“Fogaréu” was a selection at the Neufchâtel International Film Festival and further competed at the Guadalajara Film Festival, Vancouver Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival and the Mons Love International Festival, where it won the 400 Coups Competition Prize.”

“We’re happy to work with Outsider Pictures again, they’re a great supporter, carrying Latin American voices into North American homes,” Quentin Worthington, head of sales and acquisitions at MPM Premium, told Variety.“

“Infusing fantasy and thriller elements while creating a...

Adding to its notable lineup in Latin American movies, Paris-based sales agent MPM Premium has taken international sales rights to “Fogaréu,” from writer-director Flávia Neves, part of Brazil’s new wave of female filmmakers, which is one of the most exciting developments the country’s cinema currently has going for it.

MPM Premium is introducing the film at this week’s Berlin Festival, where it world premieres in Panorama on Feb. 15.

First glimpsed at 2020’s Ventana Sur project market, “Fogaréu” shares a sense of attitude and a feminist agenda and a visual verve with fellow Brazilian Ventana Sur titles “The Pink Cloud,” Iuli Gerbase’s a sci-fi character-driven thriller, and “The Joy of Things,” Thais Fujinaga’s portrait of motherhood, also playing at the same market.

It begins, for example, with menacing shots of the Klu Klux Klan, marching towards the Brazilian colonial town of Goiás, or so it seems...