Topic has acquired North American streaming rights to “Once Upon a Time in Venezuela,” Venezuela’s submission for best international feature film at the 2021 Academy Awards. Variety broke the news.
Anabel Rodriguez Rios’ documentary feature debut tackles corruption, pollution, and political decay in Venezuela vis-à-vis a portrait of the small fishing village of Congo Mirador, where two local women, a businesswoman and a teacher, clash over the upcoming parliamentary election.
“Once Upon a Time in Venezuela” made its world premiere in January at Sundance Film Festival.
Topic “plans an aggressive Oscar push for both documentary and foreign categories,” according to the source.
“Anabel Rodriguez Rios is an extremely talented emerging filmmaker, and we are honored to bring her film about her homeland of Venezuela to our audience, whom we think will be extremely moved and affected by what she has captured,” stated Ryan Chanatry, Topic’s general manager.
Rodriguez Rios added, “It’s a reflection of my entire country, the political confrontation in daily life, of corruption, populism, and decadence that takes over everything and destroys the foundations of co-existence and the future of the lost people of Maracaibo Lake and of my whole country, Venezuela.”
