Paraguayan film “The Heiresses”, a story about a once-wealthy woman without a driving license who starts up a taxi service while her partner is in jail for fraud, has proven a favorite at the 2018 Transilvania Film Festival.
Marcelo Martinessi’s Spanish-language feature-length debut, with its trio of relatively unknown actresses, had already scooped the FIPRESCI Prize and two Silver Bears from the Berlin Film Festival earlier in the year, plus two more accolades from the Cartagena Film Festival.
The film is about family, class, education and generational values, as well as about fear and different kinds of freedom, Martinessi told Paraguayan production company La Babosa Cine.
It is currently under consideration for prize-giving events at the May 17 to June 10 Seattle International Film Festival, where it is nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, and the Sydney Film Festival, June 6 to 17, where it has been put forward for the Sydney Film Prize.
Aside from a general April release in Paraguay as “Las herederas”, to date, the film has been limited to film festival screenings.
France’s Luxbox has been handling worldwide distribution agreements, with early September releases organized for the United Kingdom and United States, plus deals in place for Australia, the Netherlands, China and elsewhere. JB
RELATED STORIES:
Elizabeth Taylor TV documentary in the works