Wild Bunch nabs Lais Bodanzky’s “Just Like Our Parents”

PanARMENIAN.Net - As the Berlin market lineup begins to fall into place, Wild Bunch has acquired international sales rights to Lais Bodanzky’s “Como Nossos Pais” (“Just Like Our Parents”), the latest production from Brazilian powerhouse Gullane, whose “The Second Mother” proved one of Berlin’s biggest breakout arthouse sales hits in 2015, Variety said.

Eva Diederix, Wild Bunch’s new head of international sales, will introduce “Just Like Our Parents” to buyers at Berlin, where it screens as a Berlinale Special.

The film is the first by Lais Bodanzky – one of Brazil’s best-known female directors – to address directly the situation of women in, and beyond, Brazil. It’s Bodanzky’s fourth feature produced by Gullane, in a relationship which dates back to her debut, 2001’s Toronto player “Brainstorm.”

The story of one woman’s rediscovery of her true self, it turns on Rosa (Maria Ribeiro), a woman in her 40s who is torn between her duties of being an ideal wife, a caring mother of two and a perfect daughter and lover, while all the time wanting to enjoy a great career.

Her mother then drops a bombshell and she starts questioning her own life, looking for a new way to relate to society. Doing so “leads her to discover a new stage in her life story,” Bodanzky comments, adding that she began developing a film about contemporary women but the film acquired a second theme: “the relationship between women themselves, and especially between mother and daughter.”

“This is a subject that I myself knew very little about,” Bodanzsky added. “We are used to speaking more about the importance of the male figure, the man in the woman’s life, the relationship between father and daughter.”

“Just Like Our Parents” is produced by Gullane and Buriti Filmes, the company Bodanzky founded with her partner, Luiz Bolognesi, who won the Annecy Festival’s top prize with “Rio 2096” in 2014. Bolognesi co-wrote the screenplay for “Just Like Our Parents” with Bodanzsky, the first time Bodansky has taken a screenwriting credit.

“We have been wanting to work with Gullane for a long time, so we are extremely excited to partner on this film together,” Diederix said.

She went on: “‘Just Like Our Parents’ addresses not only the situation of women in Brazil but of women worldwide fighting their own devils and existential issues. It’s so universal.”

“We are double happy – firstly, for the excellent commercial prospects we have with Wild Bunch. This is the first time we are working together and we are very excited about it,” Fabiano Gullane commented.

Given Gullane’s long relationship with Bodanzsky, “we are very happy to top it all off with a world premiere in Berlin which gives her film and her career important international recognition,” Fabiano Gullane added.

Jean-Thomas Bernadini’s Imovision, a top Brazilian arthouse/crossover film distributor in Brazil which frequently handles Wild Bunch titles, will handle the film’s domestic release. Brazilian TV giant Globo co-produces, ensuring huge marketing muscle in Brazil.