U.K.-French sales, distribution and production company Alief has dealt Gonzalo Calzada’s award-winning Argentine thriller double bill “Nocturna” in France and Belgium to horror-centric streaming platform Freaks On.
Freaks On plans to release the film early next year, day-and-date on its platform, in select theaters and in physical media.
As envisioned by Argentine writer-director Gonzalo Calzada, “Nocturna: Side A…” turns on a nearly 100-year-old man who struggles to atone for the transgressions he has committed in his life. In “Nocturna: Side B…,” Calzada explores an experimental version of the same story.
“’Nocturna’ is inspired by my grandparents and the type of relationship they had with each other,” Calzada explained to Variety at last year’s Ventana Sur. “It’s also about the meaning of aging in a society that is imperceptive about seeing this reality. It shows the self-confidence of the twilight years as a unique possibility of redemption and connection with the truth of one’s being.”
“I tried to show how the loss of memory can operate as a release from emotional shackles and allow an individual to be a free and full person for the first time since childhood,” he went on, explaining how dementia can reveal paradoxical aspects of a person as the disease progresses.
Among the film’s numerous plaudits received through its project, production and finished stages, “Nocturna” recently swept the Screamfest LA Awards, taking best film, director, actor and editing. Before that, it was nominated for best film at Fantaspoa, where its two leads Pepe Soriano and Marilú Marini took best actor and actress respectively.
“It’s been an interesting 12 months, since launching the title at Ventanta Sur 2020,” said Brett Walker, president of Alief. “We are very excited with ‘Nocturna’s’ prospects.”
“Including interest in the IP since the feature swept the Screamfest Awards in LA,” added partner Miguel Angel Govea. “It’s a film with a lot of heart that’s finding the right opportunities and touching festival audiences from Asia to the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.”
Miguel Angel Govea, head of production & distribution of Alief and Colombian filmmaker Juan Diego Escobar Alzate, acquisition manager for French genre SVOD platform Freaks On, negotiated the deal for all rights in all media for France and Belgium.
“’Nocturna’ is a haunting and beautiful film that freshens genre filmmaking and pushes its boundaries in order to create a complex fairytale about dementia in which Pepe Soriano’s role is mesmerizing,” said Escobar Alzate. “We don’t just share films but experiences, and we were excited to partner with Gonzalo Calzada, a filmmaker who I have always admired. We cannot wait to share this film with French and Belgian audiences.”
Announced by Variety earlier this year, the double bill is being handled by Breaking Glass Pictures in the U.S.