In a last-minute deal inked at Ventana Sur, Breaking Glass Pictures (BGP) snapped up North American rights to gay-trans drama “Marilyn,” the feature debut of Argentine helmer-scribe Martin Rodríguez Redondo.
The Philadelphia-based company has been on a mini-buying spree, having previously snagged threesome drama “We Are Three” at the Buenos Aires confab. BGP has bought an average of one title per edition in previous years.
Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff and Vicente Canales of film sales company Film Factory cobbled the deal at the confab. The film is slated for a North American release in the 2nd Quarter of 2019.
Based on a true story, “Marilyn” turns on Marcos, a gay-trans youth in rural Argentina where his non-conformity lands him in dire trouble. Marcos lives with his family on a ranch where his father and brother do most of the caretaking work while he stays at home with his mother. Marcos lives for Carnival when he can put on a costume and reveal his true self. The sudden death of his father puts his family in a precarious situation and he is forced to help out at the ranch. Marcos’ intense desire to be himself is thwarted by increasing pressure and intolerance from his family and the town.
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“Marilyn” world premiered at Berlinale’s Panorama section where Variety’s Jay Weissberg noted in his review: “The unforgiving environment plays a key role, which is why the carnival scene, alive with sparkle and rhythm and hedonistic joy, comes as such a startling shift, testifying not only to [lead actor] Walter Rodríguez’s transformative power as a performer, but Rodríguez Redondo’s mature understanding of the power of the unexpected.”
Drama has won a string of awards, including the CICAE Art Cinema Award at the Films in Progress section of the Toulouse Cinélatino Rencontres Festival, the Sin Sistema prize at the Work in Progress section of the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) and an Argentine film institute INCAA’s First Feature Film Prize.
Paula Zyngierman, Giancarlo Nasi and Rodriguez Redondo served as producers at the Quijote Rampante and Maravillacine co-production.
Drama received backing from the co-production funds of INCAA and CNCA (Argentina-Chile) institutes and the Ibermedia program.
“Marilyn” has also participated in the Oaxaca Film Script Lab (Mexico), the San Sebastián Film Festival Co-Production Forum (Spain), and the Chile-based SANFIC Santiago Industry Lab and Australab at FICValdivia.
“Bold, uncompromising and powerful, director Rodriguez Redondo’s first feature bristles with beauty and compassion, and features an assured heartbreaking performance from Walter Rodriguez in his film debut,” said Richard Ross, co-president of Breaking Glass.