German Agency Picks Up Argentine Berlinale Entry ‘Beauty’

BUENOS AIRES – Berlin-based sales agency m-appeal has picked up Argentine Daniela Seggiaro’s first film Beauty, which premiered at the Berlinale Generation early this year and will be presented to the international market at the Marché du Film in Cannes, according to m-appeal’s Anne Wiedlack.

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Shot on location in the Salta province, Beauty was produced by Vista Sur Films, and taps into the traditions of the wichi, an indigenous population in the northern part of the country. In her native language, young wichi girl Yolanda tells the story of how she lost her beauty when she was forced to cut her hair while working as a family maid in a “creole” home, a decision that destroys her ties with the other culture and defines her destiny.

This is the fourth Argentinean acquisition by m-appeal, following Diego Lublinsky’s Tres Minutos, Julia Solomonoff’s The Last Summer of the Boyita and Nicolás Goldbart’s Phase 7.

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As Wiedlack explained to THR, the film interested the agency for two particular reasons. “First of all, we feel (this) is an important issue that hasn’t been seen much before. And also, we wanted to work again with Alvaro Urtizberea, who produced Tres Minutos, she said. “Also, I’m very happy to include a film made by a female director in our lineup," she added.

The film is currently programmed in the Panorama section of the ongoing Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival, and was first spotted last December at Ventana Sur market while being in post-production stage.