Paris-based auteur-driven sales boutique Alpha Violet has acquired world distribution rights to two titles set to world premiere in competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), running over Nov. 7-23.
One candidate for Tallinn’s main Grand Prix, “18 Holes to Paradise” is helmed by Portuguese filmmaker and New York Film Academy graduate João Nuno Pinto, known for his acclaimed debut “America” (2010), “Mosquito,” which was a Rotterdam Fest opener in 2020, and crime series “Natural Law.”
Penned by “Mosquito’”s Fernanda Polacow, the drama is set at a drought-stricken Portuguese country home. It tells of “landowners and staff who recount the same events from irreconcilable perspectives, revealing a fractured world on the brink of collapse,” reads the logline. In the title roles are Margarida Marinho (“The Drought,” “A Shot in the Dark”) Beatriz Batarda (“Night Train to Lisbon,” “Finisterra”), Rita Cabaço (“Great Yarmouth-Provisional Figures”) and Jorge Andrade.
“18 Holes to Paradise” is a film that was born out of our experience of watching our country dry out and be sold cheap. So we went about creating a beautiful and decadent country side property and its three siblings who can’t agree on its future: to sell or not to sell,” Pinto told Variety. “When a big forest fire surrounds them, internal social crises erupt, bringing the land workers in the conversation.
As the rich owners of the property try not to go insane, cows simply observe as the clock ticks fast.”
Following its world debut in Tallinn Nov. 13, the feature, backed by pubcaster RTP, will roll out in national cinemas via NOS. Trent Film will handle Italian distribution.
“Goodbye Sisters,” one of 10 pics to be showcased at Doc@PÖFF International Competition, is directed by emerging French-Irish filmmaker Alexander Murphy for Paris-based prodco Goodseed Productions and co-producer Underground Talkies Nepal.
Goodbye Sisters
Credit: Goodseed Productions
The filmmaker turns his camera on Jamuna (20) and her younger sister Anmuna, from the bustle of Kathmandu to the high ridges of the Himalayas. The young girls are going back to their remote mountain village to take part in the perilous harvest of the yarsagumba, a rare creature, half mushroom, half insect, whose value exceeds that of gold. For Jamuna, selling it in the city would enable her to support her family and fund her studies abroad.
Murphy says his pic explores “the strength it takes to hold on to a dream against all odds.” “Jamuna refuses to accept the life laid out for her in Nepal, daring to fight for the future she envisions. But that choice comes at a cost, saying goodbye to the people she loves most. It’s an intimate glimpse into what migration truly means,” he claims.
“Goodbye Sisters” will be released by established French outlet Dulac Distribution.
Commenting on their pick-ups, Alpha Violet co-heads Virginie Devesa and Keiko Funato said: “We are thrilled to world premiere our two new films in the Tallinn Black Nights Competition. Both films address urgent and polarizing social issues: the threat of ecological disaster and devastating forest fires in Portugal in “18 Holes to Paradise,” and the lack of opportunities for girls in Nepal, and their search for a way out in “Goodbye Sisters.” We believe that both films will attract buyers seeking strong themes and compelling narratives.”
Alpha Violet is also representing Toronto-Fipresci winner “Forastera” by emerging Spanish talent Lucía Aleñar Iglesias, due to screen in Tallinn as part of a Focus on Catalonia.
The feature was just sold to the U.S. (Grasshopper Film), Japan (Starcat) and Sweden (Folkets Bio).
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