New film distribution and exhibition agency Tull Stories has acquired UK and Irish rights, including theatrical, for the Sweden-Belgium-Norway-Chile-UK co-production Arica, directed by Swedish directors Lars Edman and William Johansson Kalén for Laika Film and Television, and handled by Swiss based sales outfit Lightdox.
The deal was negotiated by Jonny Tull of Tull Stories and Bojana Marić of Lightdox. The film will be released in cinemas by Tull Stories in the UK and Ireland in March 2022, supported by an impact campaign led by Radio Film.
The multi award-winning documentary follows the struggle of people in the Chilean town of Arica as they fight for justice against Boliden, a multinational Swedish company, who exported 20,000 tonnes of highly toxic mining waste there in the 1980s.
Over 15 years in production, Arica premiered at IDFA in 2020 and has gone on to win numerous awards on the festival circuit. Arica has also prompted an intervention by a group of UN experts who are now calling for the Swedish government to ensure that the waste is returned to Scandinavia to be securely stored.
Co-director William Johansson Kalén says: “When we began filming fifteen years ago we never expected that we would spark a historic trial in Sweden. The gold from the mines has made us rich in Sweden – but the impact of the toxic waste has had a devastating impact on people in a poor neighbourhood far away.”
He told Business Doc Europe before the film’s world-premiere: “However much you try and twist this, if the stuff sent to Chile had stayed in Sweden, I can say for sure that kids would not have been playing in this toxic waste.”
Awards to date include:
- Special Mention, Con-Science Competition, Docville 2021
- Grand Prize, awarded by students, at EcoFest Romania 2021
- Jury Special Award at EcoFest Romania 2021
- Reporters Without Borders Human Rights Award at FIGRA 2021
- Prémio Antropologia Ambiental at CineEco – Serra da Estrela International Environmental Film Festival 2021
- Honourable Mention from the Youth Jury at CineEco – Serra da Estrela International Environmental Film Festival 2021
- The Fethi Kayaalp Grand Prize at BIFED Bozcaada International Festival of Ecological Documentary 2021
Arica will screen as part of the 40th Cambridge Film Festival online programme on Sunday 21st November.
Matthew Webb, Cambridge Film Festival’s Executive Director says: “We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Lars Edman and William Johansson Kalén for their work bringing light to environmental issues through their film Arica. Premiering this powerful documentary in the 40th Cambridge Film Festival this November is especially poignant as global leaders gather in Glasgow for COP26 to agree binding action on climate.”
Arica is produced by Andreas Rocksén and William Johansson Kalén for Laika Film & Television (Sweden) in co-production with Hanne Phlypo for Clin d’Oeil Films (Belgium), Karl Emil Rikardsen for Relation04 Media (Norway), Andy Jones and Ellie Smith for Radio Film (UK) and José Miguel Garrido for Aricadoc (CL) and is supported by the Swedish Film Institute, the Swedish Postcode Foundation, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Creative Europe, Film i Västerbotten, Filmpool Nord, Film Stockholm, Nordnorsk Filmsenter, Bertha Foundation and Solberga Foundation. Involved TV broadcasters are SVT, VRT and RTBF.
