Ventana Sur: Meikincine Grabs Worldwide Sales Rights to Peruvian Dramedy ‘Seven Seeds’
BUENOS AIRES — Lucia Meik’s Buenos Aires-based sales boutique Meikincine Entertainment has picked up worldwide sales rights outside Peru to Daniel Rodriguez Risco’s Peruvian hit “Siete semillas” (“Seven Seeds”).
The film makes its international market debut at Ventana Sur, where Meikincine offers on Nov. 30, a private screening for buyers and festivals programmers.
Alongside the film producers, Meikincine is also handling “Seven Seeds” worldwide remake rights, Meik told Variety.
Meikincine is already in talks with several Hollywood studios on regional distribution deals, she added.
“Seven Seeds” marks the second feature from Daniel Rodriguez Risco which is distributed by Meikincine for the international market, after 2014 thriller “Vientre,” acquired by HBO and Somos TV in the U.S. and Fox in Latin America, among other territories.
One of Peruvian cinema’s biggest hits this year, “Seven Seeds” toplines Peru’s Carlos Alcantara (“Asu Mare!”) and Gianella Neyra (“Locos de amor”) and Spain’s Javier Camara (“Truman,” “Talk to Her”) with the special appearance of Argentine vet Federico Luppi.
Based on David Fischman’s best-selling book, “El Secreto de las Siete Semillas,” “Seven Seeds’” screenplay was co-penned by Fernando Castets (“Son of the Bride”) with brothers Daniel and Gonzalo Rodriguez Risco.
The film follows Ignacio Rodriguez (Alcantara), a self-centered man in his forties, constantly living on the verge of a nervous breakdown as manager of a textile factory which is near bankruptcy. His obsession with work has severely weakened his relationship with his wife and son, to near rupture.
But everything changes when Ignacio suffers a heart-attack and then meets a singular Master (mega-bearded Camara) who shows him how to find the necessary balance between work and family. Through the lessons of seven seeds, he will have to struggle to regain his family, save the factory and find the path to happiness.
A co-production between Rodriguez Risco’s Lima-based company Meaningful Entertainment with Miguel Valladares’ Tondero Films, Peru’s leading production house, “Seven Seeds” opened Oct. 20, handled by New Century Films, the exclusive distributor of Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox films in Peru.
After topping Peruvian B.O. over its first two weeks, the film has sold to date 611,000 tickets.
“We were surprised that a movie that is not a popular comedy but a dramedy, a genre not previously explored in Peruvian cinema, could lead the box office for two consecutive weeks, beating several Hollywood productions,” Rodriguez Risco told Variety.
“The film targeted over 25s, the age at which most are already immersed in work and begin to question the balance between professional success and family life, a strong theme in the film. But we were surprised by the huge number of people that went to the movie with their families,” he added.
“’Seven Seeds’ is really a high-concept production with a totally exportable universal story, being one of the most significant productions of Peruvian cinema to date,” Meik enthused.
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