Reservoir Docs has acquired the documentary “The Right to Be Forgotten,” by Romanian director Adina Sădeanu, which is being pitched this week during the Co-Production Forum of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Variety has learned. The company has secured worldwide sales rights apart from Romania, Moldova and Benelux.
Through a mix of investigation and observation, “The Right to Be Forgotten” tells the story of three women deeply wounded by years-long online attacks, harassment and death threats, who each respond to the attacks in their own way. Pic is produced by Axis Media Production, in co-production with Squarefish (Belgium) and HBO Europe. It’s currently in production and slated to be delivered in summer 2022.
“I started this film from the idea that the virtual world impacts our lives in ways that we don’t yet fully understand,” said Sădeanu. “One major influence comes through cyber violence and private life violations. Going beyond the personal stories of the victims, this film unveils the mental barriers of those who are supposed to protect us. At the roots of these new phenomena, I discovered a lot of hate and a huge lack of accountability. And I asked myself: are we aware of the consequences that all these have on our lives?”
Reservoir Docs is also repping “Women of Valor,” from director Anna Somershaf, a film which follows an Ultra-Orthodox Israeli woman running for parliament and fighting for equal rights in her community, at a tremendous cost to herself. Pic is available in the Thessaloniki Doc Market.
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“Reservoir Docs is very proud to represent two very relevant documentaries about women who fight for their right to simply breathe and exist: ‘Women of Valor,’ by Anna Somershaf, about the right to be elected among the Ultra-Orthodox community, and ‘The Right to Be Forgotten,’ about harassment and how to press charges when the whole political and judicial system doesn’t seem to care,” said Anaïs Clanet, partner and head of sales and acquisitions at Reservoir Docs.
Also on the company’s slate in Thessaloniki are “Code of the Freaks,” director Salome Chasnoff’s radical reframing of the use of disabled characters in film, and “The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show,” director Yoruba Richen’s examination of a seminal moment in TV history, when the legendary African-American actor hosted the iconic late-night TV program at a time when racial tensions in America were at a boiling point.