Intramovies Scores Sales on Israel’s Oscar Candidate ‘Asia’ Along With Italian titles (EXCLUSIVE)

Italian sales company Intramovies has scored some fresh sales on Israeli writer-director Ruthy Pribar’s mother-daughter drama “Asia,” winner of the Nora Ephron award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival and Israel’s candidate for the International Oscar.

The pic starring Shira Haas, who previously gained notice in Netflix mini-series “Unorthodox,” has been sold to Italy (Lucky Red), Eastern Europe (HBO Europe) and Australia (Moving Story), on top of previously announced deals to Menemsha Films for North America and Curzon for U.K. where “Asia” was released online in November.

Further deals for CIS, Baltics and Latin America are being finalized during the Cannes-backed Ventana Sur market that is currently underway.

“Asia,” in which a single Russian immigrant mother, played by Alena Yiv, who works as a nurse in a Jerusalem hospital and her 17-year-old daughter Vika, played by Haas, are forced into an especially tight bond by Vika’s degenerative disease recently won nine Ophir Awards, Israel’s most prestigious film prizes, automatically becoming Israel’s candidate for the International Oscar.

Like other Italian sales companies, Rome-based Intramovies has been diversifying its slate with some promising non-Italian titles, though of course Italian films remain the company’s core business and have also been scoring significant recent sales at Rome’s MIA mart and the AFM.

Venice Critics’ Week title “Tough Shalt Not Hate,” directed by Mauro Mancini, has been sold by Intramovies to North America (Menemsha Films), Spain (Reverso Films), Eastern Europe (HBO Europe) and Australia (Moving Story).

Italian heist drama “Golden Men” (Gli Uomini d’Oro) by Vincenzo Alfieri has gone to Russia and CIS (IV Production) and South Korea (Activers); doc “The Truth About The Dolce Vita,” by Giuseppe Pedersoli, went to South Korea (IL Media); and Emanuela Rossi’s post-apocalyptic chiller “Darkness” (Buio) was acquired for Spain (El Sur Films).

“It’s a heartening sign that interest in Italian films is still running high internationally,” said Intramovies head of sales Micaela Fusco.

“Despite the limitations imposed by the global fight against coronavirus there will always be an audience for good films, and we are very grateful to our partners for their continuing faith in the (Italian) filmmakers and everybody working in the industry.”