Mediawan Rights, the sales arm of European content group Mediawan, has boarded Simone Scafidi’s documentary Dario Argento Panico ahead of the film’s Venice Classics premiere as it continues to ramp up its documentary slate.
The film follows the legendary Italian filmmaker as he finishes the script for his final film in a hotel alongside a crew shooting a movie about him.
It has already been sold to horror streamer Shudder for the US, UK, Canada, Latin America, Spain, Portugal and Australia and to distributor Non-Stop for Scandinavia. It will be released in Italy via Plaion.
Arianna Castoldi, head of documentary sales for all formats for Mediawan rights, told Screen: “It’s not just a story told with archives - it’s a direct eyewitness account from the filmmaker himself.”
It features exclusive interviews with Argento and insight from other directors like Gaspar Noé, Guillermo del Toro and Nicolas Winding Refn about his impact on the horror genre.
Dario Argento Panico is produced by UK-based Paguro Film in association with Italy-based 341Production. The film is Scafidi’s eighth feature and follow-up to 2019’s Fulci For Fake about Italian director Lucio Fulci, also a Venice Classics title; 2015 fiction feature Eva Braun inspired by Italian parliament sex scandals; and 2013 sports doc Zanetti Story that he co-wrote and co-directed.
Sales explode for Nuclear Now and Godard Cinema
Mediawan Rights has also unveiled key deals for Godard Cinema, which explores the life and work of the iconic French-Swiss director and premiered in Venice Classics in 2022.
The film has sold to Kino Lorber for the US, BFI Player for the UK, Zero em Comportamento in Portugal, Filmin in Spain, Wanted in Italy, Play Suisse for French-speaking Switzerland, Film Europe for the Czech Republic, YLE in Finland, MayFly in Poland, Joint Entertainment in Taiwan and Mimosa in Japan. Godard Cinema is produced by Paris-based 10.7 productions in collaboration with broadcaster Arte who have French broadcasting rights.
Mediawan Rights has also secured deals for Oliver Stone’s doc Nuclear Now that premiered out of competition in Venice last year. The film has sold to Moviestar in Spain, I Wonder Pictures in Italy, Zero em Comprtamento in Portugal, Amstel Films in Benelux, Non-Stop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Madman in Australia, Transilvania Distribution in Romania, Korea Telecom in South Korea and Joint Entertainment in Taiwan.
Stone wrote the film with professor Joshua Goldstein which is based on the latter’s book A Bright Future that makes the case that atomic energy can be a solution for climate change. Mediawan is repping sales outside of North America for the film that sold to Abramorama and Giant Pictures and was released in the US in April.
Full speed ahead
Spearheaded by Castoldi, Mediawan Rights’ documentary arm is aiming for a slate of around four films per year. For now it is focused on films with “strong ties to the world of cinema”. “The idea is to position ourselves principally around documentaries by major auteurs, but we’re also on the lookout to discover younger and new talents,” Castoldi told Screen.
Her team continues to watch global co-production markets in search of up-and-coming filmmakers in the documentary genre. “The advantage of being part of a group like Mediawan is that we can come on to a project at any stage,” said Castoldi, whether that means helping a young filmmaker with financing and production via the group’s own production houses or distributing a completed film. “We’re very selective because four titles per year is not very much.”
Mediawan’s documentary division continues to be a strong component of the group’s overall strategy, even if, says Castoldi, the market for documentary features is “still recovering from the pandemic and remains challenging even though we can see an uptick in the past years.”
While there will always be a place in Europe for docs, the US and UK markets continue to be a challenge, according to Castoldi, who adds that marketing is more important than ever when it comes to distributing documentaries on the global stage. “You really need to work the niche and support each title with strong marketing tools. Our savoir-faire lies in the fact that we come from the world of TV so we can pinpoint streamers or channels in countries where theatrical releases are more complicated.” Plus, she adds, “a prestige premiere at a festival like Venice is key.”
No comments yet