Particular Crowd, the fledgling U.S.-based film division from WarnerMedia’s Turner Latin America, has nabbed all Latin American rights to Argentine filmmaker Marcos Carnevale’s latest film, the dramedy “El Cuartito.”
Shot and produced entirely in Puerto Rico, “El Cuartito” refers to the security screening room that five Latinos are confined in when they run afoul of U.S. immigration authorities at Puerto Rico’s San Juan airport. Donald J. Trump was still president when film was made so his portrait hangs on the wall of the tiny room and is a key prop in the dramedy. Carnevale even incorporated the tremors of the 6.8-magnitude earthquake and the multiple aftershocks which struck Puerto Rico while they were filming.
Spain’s Mario de la Rosa, whose credits include Netflix hit “Money Heist” (“La Casa de Papel”), BBC’s “The Night Manager” and the latest James Cameron production “Terminator: Dark Fate,” leads a cast that includes Puerto Rican Claribel Medina, who’s renowned in Argentina for her extensive TV work, Mexico’s Ianis Guerrero (“Instructions Not Included”), Dominican comedian Fausto Mata (“Sanky Panky”) and Puerto Rico’s Isel Rodriguez (“Crossbones”).
Puerto Rico’s arguably most famous son, Ricky Martin, provides the voiceover throughout the film. Eduardo Cabra (aka Visitante), winner of three Grammys and more than 25 Latin Grammys, composed the film’s score.
“I am very proud of this deal because it is so important for Puerto Rican cinema that a film produced and shot on the island will be seen throughout Latin America,” said producer Cynthia Wiesner, who closed the deal with Particular Crowd VP, Peter Bevan.
Her company, Wiesner Distribution, has been distributing films in the Caribbean and Central America for the past 20 years and is handling the pic’s world sales. “El Cuartito” is Wiesner’s producing debut.
Carnevale’s directed a slew of successful comedies in Latin America, led by “Lion’s Heart” (“Corazon de Leon”), which has been remade in at least nine territories; “Elsa & Fred,” re-versioned in the U.S. with Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer; and “Inseparables,” an adaptation of hit French dramedy “The Intouchables.”
Mostly in Spanish, “El Cuartito” is a departure from Particular Crowd’s regular lineup, as it initially focused on producing and acquiring mainly English-language films in the most mainstream of genres: comedy, romantic comedies, horror, thriller, teen and family.
When it was launched about a year ago by Turner Latin America, one of the region’s biggest pay TV operators, Particular Crowd announced a slate of 90 English-language films. Acquiring “El Cuartito” confirms its plan to further expand into Spanish and Portuguese-language content and ultimately, its confidence in the dramedy’s universal appeal.
Particular Crowd movies are available on a multiplatform basis, including linear channels TNT and Space as well as select theatrical releases via a partnership with Latin America’s leading theatre chain, Cinépolis.
