Paz Vega’s Directorial Debut ‘Rita’ Closes U.K. With Signature Entertainment For Filmax (EXCLUSIVE)

A Locarno world premiere this August, “Rita,” the directorial debut of Spanish star Paz Vega (“Spanglish,” “Lucia & Sex”), has clinched first key market sales, rolling off the American Film Market.

Sales company Filmax has closed the U.K. and Ireland with Signature Entertainment, whose recent and upcoming releases include “The New Boy,” “Unicorns” and Viggo Mortensen’s “The Dead Don’t Hurt.”

In a separate deal, BookMy Show has closed rights to India. Filmax head of international Ivan Díaz expects to close other deals, he said.

The first sales news comes as “Rita”is fast becoming a fest favourite, playing Chicago for its U.S. premiere, Valladolid for its domestic Spanish bow, and now Tallinn, Seville and Huelva festivals. 

Also written by Vega, and based on her own childhood in Triana, Sevilla – “Apart from the domestic violence, everything else that happens to Rita I’ve experienced,” Vega has told Variety – “Rita” weighs in as a nostalgia-sluiced chronicle of an initially blissful but increasingly blighted working class childhood in 1984 Seville, as school’s out for summer for Rita. 

A seven-year-old, she lives some joyous experiences typical of her age but increasingly seeks escape from her own home where her mother Mari and little brother Lolo live terrorized by the short-fused family father, a Madrid taxi driver who blames his Sevillian wife for his lot in life.

Period detail rings very true: Its sounds – a purring metal fan, heard right at the beginning of the film – its sensations, such as clambering down the cold metal rails of a bunk bed ladder – and the complacence with which José Manuel’s potential brutality is accepted in a patriarchal society.

When Mari tells her sister she is thinking of divorcing him, her sister simply asks if she’s thought of what José Manuel’s reaction will be as a man of “character.”

Vega co-stars as Mari. This is her story, but the point of view is Rita’s a moppet played superbly by Sofía Allepuz, critics coincide.   

“Rita” also suggests Vega can direct, whether picking up on period bric-a-brac, adopting a child’ POV, placing crucial events off camera or framing to underscore at one crucial point Rita’s total solitude.

The deal was agreed between Diaz and Max Hart, Signature’s acquisitions & development executive.

“We’re thrilled to have closed a deal with a great company like Signature. The U.K. and Ireland market has traditionally been a hard sale for Spanish dramas, so this deal really is testimony to Paz Vega’s first outing as a director,” said Díaz.

“‘Rita’ blew us away with its incredible performances and subtle power, marking a truly impressive directorial debut from the iconic Paz Vega. We are delighted to be releasing the film in the U.K. and Ireland,” Hart said.

Film has just had a first screening at Tallinn. It plays the Seville European Film Festival on Sunday evening as one of its big first weekend attractions. Vega receives a Premio Luz at the Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival, which kicks off next weekend.