EXCLUSIVE: A fresh round of sales have been unveiled for renowned Italian opera director Damiano Michieletto’s first feature Primavera, which world premiered as a Special Presentation at TIFF this weekend
Paradise City Sales (formerly Memento International) has secured a slew of additional deals on the title following the sales launch at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris in January.
The film has since sold to Scandinavia (Cinema Mondo), The Baltics (Adastra Cinema), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), Greece (Filmtrade & Tanweer), Turkey ( Filmarti Film), Bulgaria (Beta Films), Ex-Yugoslavia (Discovery Film), Hungary (Vertigo Media), Poland (M2 Films), Czech Republic (Film Europe), Latin America (Plus Films / Imagem Filmes), South Korea (Entermode Corp), Taiwan (Swallow Wings) and Australia & New Zealand (Rialto Distribution & Moving Story).
It was previously announced as having been sold to Benelux (Cineart), Germany and Austria (X Verleih), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Switzerland (Frenetic) and Poland (M2 Films).
In Italy, Primavera will be released by Warner Bros. Italia, while Diaphana Distribution is handling the French release.
The film is lead produced by The Great Beauty production house Indigo Film with Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia in co-production with Moana Films.
Blending lyrical sensuality and emotional force, Primavera tells the story of Cecilia, a gifted young violinist raised in an orphanage in 18th-century Venice, whose world is turned upside down by her encounter with Antonio Vivaldi.
The film expands on the novel Stabat Mater by Tiziano Scarpa, which in turn is based on the real life of Vivaldi who was a Roman Catholic priest and taught at the Ospedale della Pietà for almost 30 years.
The screenplay is co-written by Ludovica Rampoldi and director Michieletto.
Michele Riondino, who was seen recently in Bille August’s mini-series adaptation of the Count of Monte Cristo, plays Vivaldi opposite rising star Tecla Insolia as Cecilia. Isolia recently won the David di Donatello for Best Actress for her performance in The Art Of Joy.
Paradise City Sales arrives in Toronto from Venice with a packed fall sales line-up which includes Lebanese Cyril Aris’ romance A Sad and Beautiful World, which has just premiered in Venice parallel section Giornate degli Autori (previously known as Venice Days), winning the Audience Award.
Further titles include Damien Hauser’s Memory of Princess Mumbi, which also played in GdA and screens in the Toronto Centrepiece.
Further TIFF titles include Haifaa Al-Mansour’s crime thriller Unidentified (Toronto Centrepiece), and Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound (Toronto Gala Presentations & Cannes Un Certain Regard).