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Writer-director Aly Muritiba said something very interesting about his new film Private Desert in the lead-up to its Venice debut. He spoke about a desire for its success to not simply be of the “preaching to the choir” variety. Rather than hope an artist, who already understands the breadth of love, could find something at the core of his love story, Muritiba wanted to open the hearts of those trapped under the oppressive force of conservatism and traditionalism. This tale of a conflicted policeman discovering his online lover isn’t who he thinks she is possesses the opportunity to connect with those who see themselves in the former, not the latter. And he embraces that possibility. Some audience members have not.

Comments about this film using the suffering of LGBTQ characters to help an outsider find redemption aren’t wrong, and members of that community have a right to voice...

Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to Aly Muritiba’s “Private Desert” (“Deserto Particular”) Brazil’s International Feature Oscar submission and a love story hailed for its large sensibility as well as political point.

The deal was negotiated with the film’s world sale agent, Rome-based Intramovies. Kino Lorber will bring ‘Private Desert’ to U.S. and Canadian theaters in 2022, followed by a release on all major digital platforms and home video.

World premiering at September’s Venice Film Festival, the film won the Audience Award – the Bnl People’s Choice Award – at its Venice Days.

Written by Muritiba and Henrique dos Santos and produced by Antonio Gonçalves Junior at Brazil’s Grafo, Muritiba’s career-long producer, “Private Desert” begins in Curitiba in Brazil’s cold rich South with Daniel, 40, a burly police instructor with a boxer’s face who has been suspended from active service...