Leading LGBTQ+ distributor TLA Releasing has pounced on the UK and North American rights to Mexican gay romantic drama Dying Shortly (“Seré breve al momento de morir”) from director Juan Briseño.
“We are very excited to bring this vibrant and exciting film to our audiences in the new year,” said Adam Silver, director of acquisitions and operations – UK at TLA Entertainment Group, which is planning a limited theatrical release.
The deal was put together by Rio-based Habanero Film Sales CEO Alfredo Calviño, who has a strong roster in Ventana Sur.
“Dying Shortly” follows Sebastian, who has secured a coveted spot in one of the country’s best dance troupes, where he falls in love with Arsenio, a charismatic dancer. Their romance is tested when Mikael, a demanding new choreographer, turns the company into a battlefield. Sebastian comes out on top and takes down former star Luciano. Driven by jealousy and betrayal, Arsenio and Luciano conspire in a cruel plot to crush him.
Briseño’s debut feature film was produced by Basulto, had its market debut at the Marché de Film in Cannes, and this year competed for the Maguey Prize at the Guadalajara Film Festival, the LGBTQ+ festival’s sidebar.
Briceño, Isaac Basulto, Pamela Martinez and Rosana Diaz co-wrote the screenplay.
“Dying Shortly” forms part of the Habanero Ventana Sur film sales collection, which includes documentaries and dramas from Cuba, Peru, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil and more.
Among her Cuban honors are the IDFA Best Picture award for “Chronicles of the Absurd,” a documentary by Miguel Coyola, ostensibly made with scarce resources, and “Isla Familia,” the debut documentary by Cuban journalist Abraham Jiménez and his wife, producer and director Claudia. Calviños about their journey to flee oppression in Cuba and become political exiles in Spain.
Habanero narrative pictures include the Argentine-Brazilian coming-of-age thriller “Kissing Bug” (“Vinchuca”) by director Luis Zuraquin; the Peruvian-Colombian drama “Family Album,” the third in Joel Calero’s political trilogy; Ecuadorian Tania Hermida won the Sloan Science Festival Screen Award for her film “On the Invention of Species,” shot entirely in the Galapagos Islands, and “Return to Life” (“Vuelve a la vida”), directed by Luis Carlos and Alfredo Hueck, is Venezuela’s official entry. To the Oscars.
Among Habanero’s most notable works is “Tales of a Reggaetón Warrior” (“En la Caliente”), Fabian Pisani’s first documentary, which has won three awards to date, about the artist Candiman, who led the reggaeton movement in the mid-1990s in Cuba. .
Another LGBTQ+-themed film is “Luciano,” the first documentary from Argentina’s Manuel Besedowski, which follows the titular Luciano as he seeks sex reassignment surgery.
Argentine Agustín Toscano won two awards for best director for “I Trust You” (“En vos confío”), a hybrid documentary about two nuns who renounce their vocation to live as a married couple and adopt a child. In 2006, they were charged with the murder of a friend who had disappeared, and were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The Ventana Sur Championship will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay, for the first time, from December 2 to 6.