Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in the US and key territories around the world to They Shot The Piano Player, the highly-anticipated animation from Spanish director Fernando Trueba and artist Javier Mariscal, who previously collaborated on the Oscar-nominated Chico & Rita.
In a deal with Film Constellation, SPC has also secured all rights for Canada, Latin America, Scandinavia, India, Middle East, Turkey, Southeast Asia (excluding Taiwan and South Korea) and airlines within those territories. The distributor plans to qualify the film for year-end awards.
The animated feature follows a New York music journalist, voiced by Jeff Goldblum, who attempts to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of young Brazilian piano virtuoso Tenorio Jr. Music in the film comes from João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Vinicius de Moraes, and Paulo Moura.
London-based Film Constellation handles worldwide sales and co-financed the film, and will be selling the remaining territories at the ongoing Cannes market.
The film is produced by Cristina Huete of Spain’s Trueba PC (Chico & Rita), Serge Lalou for France’s Les Films d’Ici (Josep), Janneke van de Kerkhof for the Netherland’s Submarine Sublime (Buñuel In The Labyrinth Of Turtles), and Portugal’s Humberto Santana. Executive producers are Nano Arrieta of Atlantika and Fabien Westerhoff of Film Constellation.
“This film has been a 15-year investigation of mine into the life of a musical genius, whose life was unjustly taken by the military coup back in the 70s,” said Trueba.
The acquisition marks the second collaboration between SPC and Trueba after the 1992 Academy-Award®-winning Belle Époque.
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