Gabriel Mascaro’s “The Blue Trail” ran incredibly well. The Silver Bear winner at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, the film continued to win awards on its festival journey to take on the fall season that arrived in Toronto this week.
The film also has a lot to celebrate the country, marking the biggest art house release of the year in Brazil with 57,000 admissions over the first weekend, expanding nationwide from 71 cities to 89 cities this week to reach 100,000 landmarks.
Lucky Number handles the sale of “The Blue Trail,” which has been sold to 66 regions so far. The film arrives in Toronto with a film that we’ve just landed Canadian distribution. Ron Mann, president of the distribution label, said “I am proud to bring this award-winning film to a Canadian audience,” highlighting the film as “a powerful protest against ageism.”
“The trajectory since Berlin has been incredible,” Desvia producer Rachel Daisy Ellis told Variety. “It’s the best-selling film at the festival, and since then we’ve been holding a lot of sales and working with distributors who are committed to screening films.”
“The Blue Trail” will take place in nearby Brazil, so that the government will move older people to senior housing colonies, allowing younger generations to focus fully on productivity and growth. Nearly 80 Teleza (Dennis Weinberg) refuses to accept her fate and instead travels through the Amazon to realize her final wish before losing her freedom.
Producers attribute part of the film’s success to messaging. “This is a film about ageism and resilience. It’s a very important story from an age where our global population is getting older. I believe happiness and adventure are booked only by young people. With such warmth from the audience.”
“The Blue Trail” premiered in Brazil at the prestigious Gramado Film Festival in August, and sold out preview screenings, including a special screening of the cast and crew in the northern city of Manaus. Ellis emphasized the importance of establishing a film between the north and northeastern parts of Brazil. It considers long-standing focus in particular in the southeast and cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Cinemas in the northeastern Brazil have a great tradition, and exports such as Mascaro, Clever Mendonza Phillo and Karim Ainuze have become a prominent staple of prestigious festivals such as Cannes and Berlin.
“‘The Blue Trail’ will build a very strategic bridge between the two regions, mixing Northern films with Northeastern, Pernambuco and Amazonas cinemas,” Mascaro told Variety. “The beautiful thing about it is that we made a Brazilian film set in Amazon, which speaks universally with an approach of freedom, dreams and desire.
For Ellis, it’s “very important” to see a film like “Blue Trail” do well at the box office. “The Brazilian arthouse cinema brings us to a larger audience, and we are proof that we know what is beautiful not only to long-time cinema fans who go to the cinemas, but also to new audiences who know that they know his work through his work.
“We’re having beautiful moments for Brazilian films. Films like ‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘Baby’ are really good, and films like ‘The Secret Agent’ are interested in the audience,” the producer adds. “We also strengthened the role of film as an important element of Brazil’s cultural production, allowing us to show President Lula the “blue trail” that is the highlight of the film’s trajectory. ”
“I think it’s a beautiful year for Brazilian cinema,” Mascaro retorted. “We had a moment that made history that earned “I’m Still Here.” He won his first Oscar in Brazil. This is a very long-awaited event for our national films. Within the same year, “The Blue Trail” won the Silver Bear in Berlin, winning two awards at Cannes. Decentralization of public resources. This allows other parts of the country to build their own cinema legacy, like Pernambuco. ”
Ellis also pointed out how the “Blue Trail” travels strong, especially as it may be a candidate for the Brazilian Oscar, but Fillo’s Cannes winner “Secret Agent” likes to land nominations.
“We are a strong candidate to represent Brazil at the Oscar and we could potentially land Goya and Golden Globes nominations in the coming months,” she says. “Again, it’s a unique moment for Brazil, and has two very powerful films of Oscar nominees as much as possible. It would be beautiful to see two Brazilian films that are represented in different categories at Oscar.”
Chilean producer of Kijoto Films Giancarlo Nasi emphasizes Mascaro’s recent membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, calling him “one of the most influential filmmakers of our generation.” “The Blue Trail confirms his status. It’s an urgent piece that is as relevant to the audience as it is experts and critics, and is definitely one of the movies that watch this award season.”
