Anais Clanet of recently launched documentary outfit Reservoir Docs (part of the Urban group) may see tough times ahead for doc sellers, but she is striking a very sweet note with her new feature The Quest For Tonewood.
This is the Norwegian musical documentary from director Hans Lukas Hansen. It’s about Gaspar Borchardt, a violin maker, on his epic journey across Europe to find the right kind wood with which to make the perfect musical instrument – a violin with the richness and cadence of an original Stradivarius.
On the eve of IDFA, Clanet has been pulling strings with multiple distributors. Theatrical deals are now confirmed for Neue Visionen in Germany, Cineworx in Switzerland, Discovery D.O.O. in the former Yugoslavia, Blue Ice Docs in Canada, Urban Distribution in France and Swallow Wings Films in Taiwan.
The film is set to be released next year, Covid-19 permitting. Clanet describes it as “a feel good film” and a perfect title for music-loving, pandemic-weary audiences.
Among the new docs Clanet has coming up is Anna Somershaf’s Women of Valor, about an Israeli ultra-orthodox woman who defies the menfolk in her community by getting into politics and campaigning for equal rights. This was produced through Na Productions.
Reservoir Docs is also selling the UK documentary A Space In Time, directed by Nick Taussig and Ricardo Servini and produced by Taussig, Paul Van Carter and Annabel Wigoder through Salon Pictures. This is about two young boys coping with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal muscle wasting disease. It has now been confirmed that Bohemian Media is to handle the UK release in early 2021, with March 15 pencilled in for the UK theatrical roll out. Bohemian Media will also be handling North America on the film.
Clanet will be scouting Forum projects at IDFA this week but points out that Reservoir Docs, like many other companies, already has a packed slate. She is looking for films for late 2021 or 2022 but has little space for docs ready for release now. “I have a limit I cannot go over,” Clanet said of the number of new films the company can handle.
The Reservoir Docs boss acknowledges these are tough times in the independent documentary sales market. “I am feeling very pessimistic because there is definitely a backlog of titles that distributors have. Therefore, they do not look at other films or need new content. We are really struggling to place anything. VOD platforms don’t buy more. They don’t buy from us independents,” Clanet said of the short term turmoil caused by the pandemic. “At the moment, I really do believe we are in trouble.”
