EXCLUSIVE: Soda Pictures picks up Camera d’Or winner for UK.

Soda Pictures has nabbed UK rights to well-received Cannes Camera d’Or winner Ilo Ilo.

Set in Singapore in 1997 against the backdrop of the Asian financial crisis, Anthony Chen’s Directors’ Fortnight drama follows the relationship between a family of three and their newly arrived Filipino nanny who came to them in search of a better life.

The deal was negotiated between Edward Fletcher and Eve Gabereau of Soda and Tanja Meissner of Memento Films International.

Gabereau said: “We are proud to have acquired the film for its beauty, storytelling and great new voice in Asian cinema. The Camera d’Or reinforces our immediate love for the film at its world premiere screening in the early days of this year’s festival.”

Meissner added: “It is a pleasure to work with a distributor as enthusiastic as Soda and I am happy the film has found its ideal home in the UK.”

Ilo Ilo is the first Singaporean film to win the Camera d’Or, the prize for the best first feature in Official Selection, Directors Fortnight and Critics Week.

Chen’s 2008 short Grandma was in contention for the Palme d’Or for Short Film at the 60th Cannes Film Festival while short Haze played at Berlin.

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