HBO Max has picked up first window U.S. pay TV rights and Outsider Pictures the remainder of U.S. distribution to Colombian Henry Rincón’s youth drama “The City of Wild Beasts.”
Los Angeles-based Outsider Pictures is also handling world sales rights to the film, which is being shown to international buyers attending the 2021 edition of Spanish Screenings-Málaga de Cine, running Oct. 20-22.
“City of Wild Beasts” screens as part of the event’s sidebar dedicated to the award winning titles at June’s Málaga Film Festival, where it received a Special Jury Mention.
The second feature by Medellín-based production house Héroe Films, in partnership with Ecuador’s Mácula Films, Rincón’s “The City of Wild Beasts” turns on an orphan and rap lover, who has flee the big city to lgo and live with his grandfather after an altercation with gang members.
The film won co-production funding from Ibermedia and the WarnerMedia Ibero-American Feature Film Award at the 38th Miami Film Festival.
“’City of Wild Beasts’ is similar in many ways to [Mexican Fernando Frías award-winning film] ‘Ya no estoy aquí,’” said Eric Schnedecker, international sales executive at Outsider Pictures.
“It talks about youth in the inner city and the influence of music but then takes its protagonist out of his comfort zone and puts him in a unique situation, which in ‘City of Wild Beasts’ is this countryside and finding out where he came from, and who he could be. This combination of youth and old age, of respect earned and given, is universal,” he explained.
Rincón, whose feature debut “Pasos de héroe” (2016) was also produced by Héroe Films, worked as production manager on the Amazon Prime Video series “Jack Ryan.”
“The City of Wild Beasts” cast includes Bryan Córdoba, Oscar Atehortúa, Valeria Perez, Joel Mosquera and Héctor García.
Founded in 2005 by Paul Hudson, Outsider Pictures, a sales agency and distribution and production company, specializes in releasing Latin American films, both feature and documentaries, across theatrical, video, TV and online. It also releases non-Spanish titles.
For sales, Outsider acquires and produces English and Spanish-language titles. As a U.S. distributor, the company focuses on Latin American and Spanish cinema, though also taking non Spanish-language products. For production, Outsider focuses on Latin American films.