Beta Cinema has sold the North American rights for “Adios Buenos Aires” to Outsider Pictures, which plans to release the charming comedy drama in spring 2024 throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The multiple audience award winner has also sold to Argentina (Cinetren), South Korea (Challan), Israel (Nachshon Films), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo Audiovisuais), Switzerland (Xenix Film Distribution), Bulgaria (Beta Film) and former Yugoslavia (Discovery). Spafax has picked up selected airline rights.
“Adios Buenos Aires” is directed by German Kral (“Our Last Tango,” “Música Cubana”) and was inspired by the real tragic events that shook Argentina in late 2001 when the government’s sudden freeze of all bank accounts, known as the “Corralito” in Argentina, led to huge protests, resulting in the downfall of the government.
The film starts in Buenos Aires in November 2001. Argentina is embroiled in crisis, with the peso plunging deeper and deeper. Julio Färber, the charismatic bandoneon player of the Vecinos de Pompeya, a five-piece working-class tango band, is trying to keep his head above water, but every month he is earning less and less from their gigs as well as from the traditional shoe shop he inherited from his father.
At the very moment he takes the decision to leave his beloved Buenos Aires forever, it clearly appears that life is conspiring against him: overnight, the government freezes all bank accounts in the whole country, preventing Julio from purchasing the flight tickets and sparking violent protests throughout the town. And Mariela, a witty young woman and feisty cab driver, bumps into his car at full speed, damaging Julio’s last possession of value before stealing his heart.
The cast is led by Diego Cremonesi (“Kryptonite,” “I’m Gilda,” “The Bronze Garden”) and Marina Bellati (“Betibú,” “Sunstrokes,” “No Kids,” “Maradona: Blessed Dream”), alongside Carlos Portaluppi, Manuel Vicente, Rafael Spregelburd, Mario Alarcón and Luis Ziembrowski.
“Adios Buenos Aires” is produced by Nils Dünker for Lailaps Films, Dieter Horres for Horres Film & TV and German Kral Filmproduktion in Germany, alongside Monogatari Films and Carolina M. Fernández and Jorge Leandro Colás for Salamanca Cine in Argentina. Daniel Pensa and Miguel Ángel Rocca serve as executive producers.
The film is coproduced by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and ARTE and supported by BKM, INCAA, FFF Bayern, BBF, FFA and MEDIA. It was released theatrically in Germany in May 2023.
Kral’s documentary “Música Cubana” (2004), executive produced by Wim Wenders, had its international premiere at the 2004 Venice Film Festival. “The Last Applause” (2009), which he directed and produced, received the FFF Talent Award and the City of Munich’s Starter Film Prize. “Our Last Tango” (2015) premiered at the Toronto Film Festival before travelling the festivals world-wide and won several awards, including the Bavarian Film Award for best photography, as well as the audience awards at both the Washington DC Film Festival and the Bolzano Film Festival in Italy.
