Italian international sales agent The Open Reel has announced a new acquisition for its line-up during the Marché du Film of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.
Starting with the latest acquisition, Variações – Guardian Angel is the debut feature by Portuguese director João Maia, which was selected for Les Arcs’ Works in Progress slate last December. It’s a biopic that portrays the life of António Ribeiro, a prominent figure in the Lisbon music scene in the late 1970s, who is pursuing his dream of becoming a singer and composer, despite the fact that he doesn’t know how to read music. The film focuses on the transformation process as he adopts the persona of Antonio Variações, an eccentric and popular singer whose career was cut short by his sudden and premature death in 1984. Produced by Lisbon-based David & Golias, written by Maia and Karen Sztajnberg, and with Sérgio Praia in the lead role, Variações – Guardian Angel will be released in Portugal on 22 August.
