Tel-Aviv-based Cinephil, the sales company behind triple-Oscar nominated “Flee,” has snapped up world rights, excluding U.S., to Italian director Nicolò Bassetti’s transgender-themed doc “Into My Name,” which is executive-produced by Elliot Page.
UTA Independent Film Group will be handling North American rights.
The buzzy doc, which world-premieres at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama Documentary section, stems from Bassetti’s personal experience with the gender transition of his child, Matteo.
“Into My Name” provides an intimate look at the universal challenges of gender transition by observing a tight-knit group of trans friends in the central Italian city of Bologna.
Cinephil managing director Olivier Tournaud in a statement said that he was “immediately taken” by Bassetti’s “sensitive and relatable exploration of the many facets of gender and even more so the love letter from a father to his son.”
“Into My Name is timely and spotlights voices that need to be heard; this is exactly the kind of film Cinephil is proud to represent,” Tournaud noted.
Bassetti underlined that for him the doc “is a deeply personal project, both as a parent of a transgender son and as a director who has always explored individual paths that show our shared humanity.”
“I trust that together with a strong partner such as Cinephil, we can add to the awareness and understanding of trans issues with international audiences,” the director said.
The doc’s characters, Nico, Leo, Andrea and Raff — whose ages span from their mid-20s to mid-30s — come from different parts of Italy, and started their gender transition from a female to a male identity at different times in their lives. Day by day, they boldly face all the obstacles of a binary world. To achieve a fulfilling and dignified life is a matter of survival.
“Into My Name” is produced by Nicolò Bassetti and Gaia Morrione’s Nuovi Paesaggi Urbani and Lucia Nicolai and Marcello Paolillo’s Art of Panic. The film’s executive producers are actor and activist Elliot Page and Gaia Morrione. The doc was supported by the Regione Emilia Romagna film production fund.
Elliot Page is represented by UTA, VIE Entertainment, ID Public Relations, and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman.
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