“The Blue Trail,” one of the big highlights of the Berlin Film Festival that’s competing for a Golden Bear, has been acquired by a raft of international distributors.
Paris-based sales banner Lucky Number launched the politically minded movie at the EFM, which runs alongside the festival and sold it to major territories, including Germany (Alamode), France (Paname), Benelux (Imagine), Spain (Karma), Switzerland (Xenix), Portugal (Nitrato), Sweden (Triart), Denmark (Camera), Norway (Arthaus), Baltics (A-One), Poland (Aurora), Czech Republic & Slovakia (Film Europe), Former Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Bulgaria (Beta), Hungary (Mozinet), Israel (Lev) , Australia and New Zealand (Palace), Indonesia (Falcon).
Lucky Number is currently in discussions to close the U.S., U.K. and Italy and offers in the Middle East, Turkey, Greece and Asia. Vitrine in Brazil and Pimienta, whose deals were made directly by the producers, will distribute the movie in in Brazil and in Mexico, respectively.
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“The Blue Trail” – which marks Brazil’s return to the Berlinale Competition following “All the Dead Ones” in 2020 — unfolds on the banks of the Amazon, and is set in a near future, in a society in which the elderly are invited to exile themselves once their expiration date has passed.
The story revolves around Tereza, 77, who has lived her whole life in a small, industrialized town in the Amazon, until one day she receives an official government order to relocate to a senior housing colony. “The colony is in an isolated area where the elderly are brought to ‘enjoy’ their final years, freeing the younger generation to focus fully on productivity and growth. Tereza refuses to accept this imposed fate. Instead, she embarks on a transformative journey through the rivers and tributaries of the Amazon to fulfill one last wish before her freedom is taken away—a decision that will change her destiny forever,” the synopsis reads.
“The Blue Trail” is being talked about a potential winner of a major award at the Berlinale whose closing ceremony takes place on Saturday evening. Variety‘s review said the movie was “pitched somewhere science-fiction and fable” and sees Mascaro finding “a beacon of optimism within its own dystopian view of the future,” as well as showcases “the astonishing natural beauty (side by side with decay) of the Amazon in every high-definition frame.”
Mascaro previously attended the Berlin Film Festival with “Divine Love” which opened at Sundance and went on to play in the Panorama section in Berlin in 2019.
“The Blue Trail” is produced by Rachel Daisy Ellis for Brazil’s Desvia, a company whose previous credits include “Neon Bull” and Tatiana Huezo’s “Prayers for the Stolen;” and Sandino Saravia Vinay (“Roma”) at Mexico’s Cinevinay. Co-producers are Globo Filmes in Brazil, Viking Film in The Netherlands and Quijote Films in Chile.
Lucky Number was launched in the run up to the Berlinale by Olivier Barbier, a former senior executive at MK2 Films, alongside fellow MK2 Films alumn Ola Byszuk and former Orange Studio exec Lenny Porte.