Philippa Kowarsky’s Tel Aviv-based Cinephil announced this week it will handle world sales on Ted Braun’s new documentary ¡Viva Maestro!. The film has already been picked up by Greenwich Entertainment for its North American release.
The subject of the film is international superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel. The documentary follows him as he reacts to the unexpected and daunting obstacles of social unrest in his home country Venezuela and as he heads across the world, leading orchestras in Los Angeles, Berlin, Mexico City, Hamburg and finally, Santiago, Chile.
“Every now and then we’ve the great pleasure of working with a film that ticks every box – fabulous filmmaking, an inspiring character, combined with the moving power of music. It’s a beautiful film and it will open hearts and souls around the globe,” Kowarsky commented of Cinephil’s involvement in the film, which is backed by Participant.
Cinephil is also continuing to benefit from its long standing relationship with Danish documentary powerhouse Final Cut For Real. “We so respect them. We love working with them. We talk with them all of the time,” the Cinephil boss said of a collaboration which stretches back to Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act Of Killing and The Look Of Silence.
This isn’t an exclusive or formalised arrangement but it has clearly been to both companies’ benefits. It yielded two films which screened to acclaim in Sundance this year, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated doc Flee and Camilla Nielsson’s President. Both titles are on Cinephil’s EFM slate this week.
One of Cinephil’s hit titles from last year’s Berlinale, Victor Kossakovsky’s Gunda, will screen this weekend at the Glasgow Film Festival when there will be a Q&A with the director.
The doc’s main protagonist, a doughty Norwegian sow (female pig), has achieved celebrity status. “Gunda the pig is going to have a very long life on screen. She’s still alive and kicking in Norway. I hope she stays alive for a long time but I think the film will stay alive for a way longer time than Gunda will…I still hopes she walks the red carpet,” Kowarsky says of the sow.
Thanks to Covid, though, “a lot of the playfulness has had to be put aside, and Gunda (the film) hasn’t met an audience yet.” The film had a sneak preview release in the US through Neon in order to qualify for an Oscar run, but it is only now beginning its theatrical journey. Its Norwegian release is set for the end of March.
“In spring and summer , as cinemas open around the world, Gunda will meet the world,” Kowarsky predicted of the film’s likely roll-out.
In the meantime, Cinephil is busy closing further deals on Flee and President. The animated feature doc Flee (a prize winner in both Sundance and Gothenburg) has now gone to such territories as Madman for Australia, Curzon for the UK and Haut et Cours for France. These follow on from the North American deal with Neon. “It is really rocking people,” Kowarsky said of the mounting enthusiasm for the film among audiences and distributors alike.
”It is a story people can relate to. People hear about refugee stories all the time. This one is tangible. It is extremely authentic. There is no nonsense there. The filmmaker Jonas is honest and true. He gets to the core of the story in a very gutsy way,” adds the Cinephil boss.
Covid-permitting, Neon is expected to release the film in North America in late summer or early autumn. “Flee has to be released in cinemas,” Kowarsky stressed. “It would be very sad to do a digital release.”
Another Cinephil title attracting strong interest is Ada Ushpiz’s Children, about young Palestinian girls coping with the Occupation and forced to grow up before the time. The film, which premiered at DOK Leipzig in the autumn, is expected to be trimmed slightly to a 90-minute running time for broadcasters and distributors.
