IDFA: Cat & Docs Boards ‘Los Reyes’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Emilio Mayorga

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – BARCELONA — Paris-based Cat & Docs has taken all international rights to Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff’s “Los Reyes,” a documentary feature which screens in competition at the 31st International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam ().

The feature is produced by Chile’s foremost young documentary director Maite Alberdi (” The Grown-Ups ,” “Tea Time”) in association with Perut and Osnovikoff’s own company, founded in 2003. It is co-produced by Hamburg-based Dirk Manthey Film.

“Los Reyes” follows two stray dogs, Chola and Fútbol, and they wander around the oldest skatepark (Los Reyes) in the Chilean capital of Santiago. From the canine point of view –a peculiar, sometimes humorous counterpoint– the audience is offered, in the background, in voiceover, a vivid portrait of this singular microcosmos featuring hurtling skateboards and boisterous teenagers.

Italy-born Perut and Chilean Osnovikoff  form a directorial documentary duo whose works include “Surire,” set on Chile’s high plains, mordant chronicle “The Death of Pinochet” and the saucy “Welcome to New York.”

“The main characters are dogs, which isn’t common in adult-targeted cinema. Animals have always been territory for children cinema; the dogs really manage to capture general audiences in ‘Los Reyes’ making us empathize with them,” producer Alberdi told Variety.

Cat & Docs is run by Catherine Le Clef, formerly Fortissimo Films’ head of TV and ancillary sales. Its catalog include titles such as Anna Zamecka’s “Communion,” Kirsten Johnson’s “Cameraperson” and Sean McAllister’s “A Syrian Love Story.”