Paris-based sales house WIDE has acquired Alexa Bakony’s feature doc Colors of Tobi for world sales.
The film, which world-premiered earlier in March at BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, is described as a “mesmerising portrait of a family dealing with teenage gender dysphoria.” See Business Doc Europe review here.
“Colors of Tobi is a strong true story coming from one of the most homophobic countries in EU. A story-bridge of familiar love, support and acceptance from older generation to the new one that will definitely build up a better Europe and a better world,” says WIDE’s acquisition and sales team of Maxime Montagne, Marco Urizzi and Lorena Amaral.
The London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival summary of the doc reads how: Tobi is a typical 16-year-old, desperate for the end of school and wondering what path in life to take. The hard-working people in Tobi’s tiny village struggle to make ends meet, while the kids can’t wait to escape to Budapest as soon as they turn 18. Against the challenges of an increasingly conservative Hungary, where trans rights are currently being stripped back, this insightful documentary generously shines a light on the journey of Tobi’s mother as much as Tobi themselves. Having come out once as male in his mid-teens, Tobi later shifts towards a non-binary identity. It’s a steep learning curve for the family to re-evaluate the deeply ingrained gender binary in this rural corner of Central Europe, but for this caring and communicative group, love wins the day.
WIDE further underlines how it has always defended and represented LGBTQI+ cinema, with a large selection of queer films in both its line up and catalogue. Other recent acquisitions include Madiano Marcheti’s Tiger Award nominee Madalena, which shows the serious consequences of the exploitation of soy and other grains on Brazilian society, especially on the LGBTQI+ community.
