Cadejo Blanco

Source: Courtesy of Imperative Entertainment

Cadejo Blanco

WaZabi Films will launch sales this week on Guatemalan drama and TIFF Industry Selects title Cadejo Blanco, which joins the Montreal-based company’s busy festival roster.

Justin Lerner wrote and directed the Spanish-language documentary-narrative hybrid that screens as part of a programme of 22 global films available for sale that screen outside the Official Selection. Mauricio Escobar, Ryan Friedkin, Jack Hurley and Lerner served as producers.

Cadejo Blanco follows a working-class girl from Guatemala City who infiltrates a gang on the seaside town of Puerto Barrios and gets close to her sister’s dangerous ex to find out what happened to her. Karen Martínez and Rudy Rodríguez star.

Lerner, whose drama Girlfriend screened at TIFF 2010 and won the Gotham Awards audience award, spoke to teenage gang members who shared their stories. The film’s title refers to Guatemalan folklore about an unseen four-legged animal that protects people from harm.

Cadejo Blanco is a Guatemala-USA-Mexico co-production between Imperative Entertainment, La Danta Films and The Orange Company, with Guatemala being the primary country. 30West represents North American rights.

WaZabi Films co-presidents Anick Porier and Lorne Price said, “We were both very taken by Cadejo Blanco and could not resist the opportunity to bring this film to the world. TIFF Industry Selects is a good opportunity for buyers to discover this gem.”

Lerner and fellow producers Escobar and Hurley added, “Our filmmaking team is proud to partner with WaZabi Films to launch Cadejo Blanco into the world at TIFF, a perfect international platform to share one of the many thrilling cinematic stories currently being told in Guatemala.”

WaZabi heads into a busy TIFF and handles sales on previously announced documentary Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine, Contemporary World Cinema selection Maria Chapdelaine, and Platform selection Drunken Birds (Les Oiseaux Ivres).