“Baby,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week where it won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for joint acting lead Ricardo Teodoro, has closed further sales.
Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal have sold the distribution rights to Ama Films for Greece, Mezipatra z.s for Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Falcon for Indonesia.
“Baby,” directed by Brazilian Marcelo Caetano and based on a screenplay by Caetano and Gabriel Domingues, follows 18-year-old Wellington, who finds himself alone and adrift on the streets of São Paulo, without any contact from his parents and lacking the resources to rebuild his life. He encounters Ronaldo, a mature man, who teaches him new ways of surviving. Gradually, their relationship turns into a conflicting passion.
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Ama Films, whose recent releases include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist” (also handled by M-Appeal) and Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero,” plans to release “Baby” in cinemas at the end of the year.
Falcon, one of Indonesia’s largest movie studios with its own streaming platform, has added “Baby” to its recent acquisitions including Cannes 2024 Competition titles “The Substance” and “Emilia Perez.”
In Czech Republic and Slovakia, the film will be released by Mezipatra Queer Film Festival’s distribution label Queer Kino, where a theatrical release is planned for 2025 following a festival run.
The film has already been sold to North America (Dark Star Pictures), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Films), Taiwan (Swallow Wings Films), and Germany and Austria (Salzgeber). The film has received interest from U.K., Italy, Switzerland and Latin America, and further deals are expected to be announced soon. Vitrine Filmes is releasing the film in Brazil.
“’Baby,’ although clearly loved by LGBTQ audiences too, is emotionally universal, which we have seen both in the positive reviews out of Cannes and in the strong interest from crossover arthouse buyers,” said Maren Kroymann, managing director of M-Appeal.
“Baby” is Caetano’s second feature following his debut “Body Electric,” also represented by M-Appeal, which premiered at IFFR in 2017 and went on to screen at 50 festivals including Hong Kong and Guadalajara. “Baby” is also set to become a festival darling, with continental and territorial premieres to be announced shortly.
Caetano previously worked as an assistant director on Gabriel Mascaro’s “Neon Bull” (2016) and was the casting director on Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “Aquarius” (2016) and “Bacurau” (2019), directed by Filho and Juliano Dornelles.
“Baby” is a Brazil-France-Netherlands coproduction between Cup Filmes (Brazil), Desbun Filmes (Brazil), Plateau Produções (Brazil), Still Moving (France), Circe Films (Netherlands) and Kaap Holland (Netherlands).
