Transatlantic distribution company Pink Parrot Media has acquired global rights to David Baute’s animated feature “Black Butterflies” following a successful summer festival run, which included an Annecy Contrechamp competition world premiere.
Pink Parrot is meeting with distributors around the world and has already closed a deal with Sideral Cinema in Spain, distributors of this year’s Spanish Oscars submission “Saturn Returns.”
“Black Butterflies” will be released in Spanish theaters on Dec. 5 after getting its domestic premiere on Oct. 4 in the official selection at Sitges. Baute will attend the Catalan screening with screenwriter Yaiza Berrocal, composer Diego Navarro, production designer and animation director Pepe Sánchez and director of photography and art María Pulido.
Other upcoming festival appearances include Animasyros, DocsMx and the Manchester Animation Festival.
A 2D-animated climate change documentary, “Black Butterflies” is inspired by Baute’s live-action 2020 film “Climate Exodus.” The new film merges intimate and personal narratives from women climate refugees from Kenya, India and the Caribbean. Baute and screenwriter Yaiza Berrocal worked with art director María Pulido (“Ámome”) and production designer and animation director José Sanchez Alonso (“Run Ozzy Run”) on combining the narratives into a feature film with a very clear message. The film also features an original song by Grammy-winning Panamanian superstar Ruben Blades, which will certainly bolster its commercial appeal and name recognition.
“Black Butterflies” is produced by Spain’s Ikiru Films (“Tad, The Lost Explorer”) and Tinglado Film (“Ona”) with Catalan companies Anangu Group (“Mummies”) and CCMA as well as Panama’s Tunche Films (“Ainbo: Spirit Of The Amazon”). It received financial support from Spanish pubcaster RTVE, state TV operator 3Cat in Catalonia, Public Television of the Canary Islands and Mogambo, with financing from Spain’s Ministry of Culture-ICAA, and support from ICEC-Department of Culture-Generalitat de Catalunya as well as the government of the Canary Islands and the Island Council of Tenerife.
Edmon Roch, the film’s producer at Ikiru, said of today’s announcement: “It’s a luxury to start our journey with a sales agent with the experience, detail and passion of Pink Parrot Media, which bet on the film after on our presentation at Annecy. We’re equally excited to have Sideral Cinema, a company that takes maximum care of all its releases, as our distributor in Spain.”
“‘Black Butterflies’ is a striking and moving story that raises social awareness of climate change,” added Tania Pinto Da Cunha, VP and partner at Pink Parrot Media. “What attracted us to this story is that it serves as a poignant reminder of the human cost of global warming and the importance of solidarity in an ever-changing world. At PPM, we are always looking for stories that have a message, and this film has much more than that. The visuals are stunning, it has a powerful narrative, and the animation style is strikingly beautiful.”
Roberto Butragueño, CEO of Spanish distributor Sideral Cinema, finished: “We are proud to share with the Spanish public this unique film of extraordinary quality, which addresses such important and current issues, as well as having the opportunity to continue collaborating with Ikiru after the happy experience on ‘Saturn Returns.’”
