Netflix, HBO Max, Movistar Plus, SomosTV Take Veronica Chen’s Sundance Title ‘High Tide’ (EXCLUSIVE)

John Hopewell
·2 min read

In a broad sweep of platform pick-ups, Netflix, Warner Media’s HBO Max and Movistar Plus, Telefonica’s pay TV/SVOD service in Spain, have all acquired drama thriller “High Tide” (“Marea Alta”).

From Argentine writer-director Veronica Chen, the feature premiered in World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

More from Variety

Pay TV service SomosTV has taken U.S. rights. Deals were brokered by the movie’s international sales agent, Guido Rud at FilmSharks.

Netflix has picked up rights to Latin America, where the U.S. streaming giant will make “High Tide” available from Dec. 3. HBO Max will bow the class warfare drama in Central Europe from May 2022.

Produced by Vega Cine, “High Tide” marks the latest feature from Chen whose “Smokers Only” played Sundance back in 2002, while “Agua” screened at Locarno and “Rabbit Woman” in 2013 at San Sebastián.

A discomfiting portrait of the class divide and prejudice on both sides of the tracks, “High Tide” stars Gloria Carrá (“Sres. Paris,” “Animal”) as Laura, a privileged married woman who has a one-night stand with the foreman in charge of a building a barbecue pit at her beach house.

Besmirched in the eyes of his workers, she finds them taking increasingly invasive liberties, until she finally takes matters into her own hands.

Reviews – good or mixed – highlighted the movie’s visuals, Carré’s central performance and the movie’s finding fault with most every character. “High Tide” remains, however, a film that is “perfect for today’s market,” said FilmSharks founder Guido Rud.

“Today’s market has changed and we have great amount of work not only producing and/or selling films but selecting the right projects that will be appealing and refreshing in an industry where series are getting to a saturation peak and cinema is staging a comeback, “Rud said.

He added: “‘High Tide’ has the right elements for today’s market. It’s a female empowered and driven suspense drama, an edgy film that narrates how a situation of threat turns into a silent massacre.”

Best of Variety

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