Luxbox Pounces On Lola Arias’ Berlinale Forum Selection ‘Reas,’ a Prison Musical Featuring Women, Trans Ex-Cons (EXCLUSIVE)
Holly Jones Paris-based outfit Luxbox – one of Europe’s biggest sales agents and sometimes producers – of higher-profile Spanish-language art house fare, has swooped on international rights to “Reas,” a prison musical in which female and trans ex-cons process their experiences, which was confirmed last week as one of the first eight films selected for Berlin’s Forum section.
The second film by Argentine playwright and writer Lola Arias (“Theater of War”), and winner of the HEAD Pitchings du Réel Award at Visions du Réel in 2020, “Reas” was also selected by San Sebastian Film Festival for its 2023 WIP Latam.
It will world premiere at the Forum, a section focusing on boundary-breaking titles that challenge aesthetic and narrative norms. “We feel extremely honored to represent the second feature by artist and filmmaker Lola Arias, whom we discovered at San Sebastian Work In Progress,” Luxbox CEO Fiorella Moretti told Variety.
An international co-production between Gema Juárez and Clarisa Oliveri, founders of Buenos Aires-based Gema Films (“La Sangre En El Ojo”) alongside Ingmar Trost at Germany’s Sutor Kolonko, which co-produced Maite Alberdi’s endearing Oscar nominated “The Mole Agent” and Vadim Jendreyko at Switzerland’s Mira Film (“Taming The Garden”), “Reas” marks the third collaboration between Luxbox and Gema Films, duly boasting an impressive roster of trailblazing arthouse cinema picks. “We’re so thrilled to be working with Luxbox for the third time, after the happy experiences of “The Castle” (2023) and “Pornomelancolia” (2022); this feels like family.
