CMG’s Ventana Sur WIP Entry ‘Kayara’ on Hot Sales Streak (EXCLUSIVE)
Ventana Sur Animation! WIP title “Kayara” is on a hot sales streak, striking deals way in advance of its completion.
Three more pre-sales deals have been confirmed by Beverly Hills and Paris-based Cinema Management Group (CMG) which reports that some 18 blue chip distributors from around the world have already signed up for the rights to the Peruvian animated feature, which is currently in production and will be ready by 2024.
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Volga Films for the CIS territories, Kino Swiat in Poland and ADS Service in Hungary signed the most recent sales deals at the American Film Market, said Edward Noeltner of CMG, making it a best seller for the sales company, second only to Academy Award-winning animated feature, “Loving Vincent,” which grossed over $42 million worldwide.
In the nearly 20 years CMG has been executive producing and licensing animated family features, “Kayara” is becoming one of its most sought-after features.
“Coming on the heels of the worldwide success of ‘Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon,’ it is definitely showing the strength of indigenous themes and the high artistic level of creativity in Latin America,” Noeltner said.
“Kayara” is also produced by Peru’s Tunche Films, the company behind “Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon,” which sold out worldwide and grossed over $13 million at the box office during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CMG. “Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon” pre-sold to over 80 international distributors with theatrical releases throughout 2021.
The titular Kayara is a young intrepid athlete who aspires to become the first female chasqui, the exclusive league of official messengers during the Incan Empire, normally comprised of the fittest and fastest young male runners. Not unlike the plucky Ainbo, Kayara needs to overcome multiple forces bent on thwarting her ambition. Her “tale of self-awareness, identity, and discovery empowers its audience to honor indigenous traditions while creating new ones,” the synopsis goes.
Other previously licensed territories to “Kayara” include Latin America (CDC), France (Le Pacte), Benelux (WW Entertainment), Scandinavia (Mis.Label), Switzerland (Praesens), Portugal (Films4You), Turkey (BIR Films), Czech and Slovak Republics (Bohemia), ex-Yugoslavia (Blitz Film), the Middle East (Front Row Entertainment), Israel (Five Star), Australia/New Zealand (Rialto), Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia (Muse), Indonesia (Falcon) and Mongolia (Mongol Film Distributors).
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