Boaz Yakin’s ‘Aviva’ Secures U.K. Ireland and Australian Distribution With Matchbox (EXCLUSIVE)

Ann-Marie Corvin
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

London-based Matchbox films has bagged the U.K., Ireland and Australasian rights to Boaz Yakin’s all-singing, all-dancing gender-fluid romance “Aviva,” from Tbilisi, Béziers and London-based producer/distributor Alief Film.

The film is scheduled for distribution in those territories from the first quarter 2021.

Closed on the eve of the AFM, the deal follows Alief’s earlier U.S. sale of the film to Outsider Pictures and Strand Releasing in April. Outsider released the dance drama virtually in the U.S. in June on fledgling Hollywood movie service Row8.

Strand has also announced a mid-December release date for the film’s distribution for electronic sell-through/transactional video on demand, DVD and BluRay.

Shot on location in Paris and New York, “Aviva” revolves around a pair of transatlantic lovers, Aviva and Eden, whose characters take on both male and female forms at different moments during the narrative.

Young Parisian Aviva is played by actors Zina Zinchenko (“7 Days In Entebbe,” “A Tale of Love and Darkness”) and Or Schraiber (“The Last Planet,” “Mr. Gaga”) while New Yorker Eden is played by newcomer Tyler Phillips and the choreographer Bobbie Jene Smith (“Mari”).

A hit at festivals including SXSW, Fantaspoa, Haifa and Choreoscope (where it snagged top prize for outstanding contribution to a dance film), the buzz title also saw Synapse Distribution snap up Latin America and Portugal rights while YES DBS has also picked up distribution for Israel.

Alief world sales agent Miguel Govea and Brett Walker closed the deal for Alief, and Govea added that offers for the title are also being considered “from key arthouse players in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe.”

Meanwhile Synergetic Distribution have picked up additional rights to one of Alief’s other strong performers, “Zana,” by Kosovo-born, L.A.-based writer/director Antoneta Kastrati, which turns on the psychological legacy of the war in Kosovo.

Synergetic, which picked up the U.S. rights to the thriller-horror pic earlier this year, has snapped up additional rights for Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Latin American digital rights.

German, Austrian and Swiss broadcast rights for the film, which Alief co-produced, were awarded to 3sat.

Cult horror and sci-fi specialist Synapse has also snapped up Latin American and Portuguese distribution rights for two further Alief offerings: the experimental Brazilian-American eco-thriller “Sequestrada” as well as the digital rights for Gisberg Bermudez’ Venezuelan horror pic “The Whistler”.

According to Govea and Walker, Alief is also considering offers from the U.S., Latin America, France and the U.K for its newest title, Spanish LGBTQ+ relationship drama “Isaac.”

More from Variety

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.