Urban Sales Swoops on Carolina Markowicz’s Toronto-San Sebastian Title ‘Charcoal’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Holly Jones Paris-based Urban Sales has swooped on international sales rights to Brazilian writer-director Carolina Markowicz’s awaited debut feature film “Charcoal” (“Carvão”), which is set for its world premiere at at Toronto’s prestigious Platform showcase before heading to San Sebastian for a Europe bow as part of its just-revealed Horizontes Latinos lineup.Urban Sales has also shared with Variety a first look still from the film.Distribution in Brazil is handled by Pandora Filmes, founded by André Sturm, which launched the country’s first classic film streaming platform Belas Artes in 2019, bringing big-name, cult, and regional classics to audiences nationwide.Markowicz has written and directed six short films that have been selected by 400 festivals including Locarno, SXSW, Toronto and AFI. Her short film,“The Orphan,” a gritty tale about a young queer boy who tries to navigate his most recent adoption after being placed with a well-off conservative family, premiered at Directors’ Fortnight and won the Queer Palm at Cannes in 2018. “We’ve always felt close to Brazilian cinema, working with filmmakers such as Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas, Sandra Kogut, Esmir Filho,” said Louise Ronzet, Urban Sales’ head of sales.She added: “We found Carolina Markowicz’s debut to be simply mind-blowing.