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Italy’s The Open Reel has picked up international sales rights to Daniel Nolasco’s Brazilian hybrid feature “Little Tragedies” (“Pequenas tragédias”), winner last week of the Malaga Festival’s WIP Ibero-América Award.
The film collected a €5,000 ($5,752) cash prize at MAFIZ, Málaga’s industry hub, during the festival’s 29th edition, held March 6-15. Written and directed by Nolasco, “Pequenas tragédias” draws on an overtly personal premise to explore memory, distance and queer belonging.
Set in 2011, the film begins when Nolasco leaves his small hometown of Catalão, in Brazil’s interior, for Rio de Janeiro to attend college. He is the first of a group of queer friends to leave. 10 years later, none of them remain there: some have died, while the others have moved away.
The film unfolds as a personal story of memory, loss and belonging set in Catalão, a place everyone says is “too good to live in,” hinting at the tensions beneath the surface.
Produced by Cecília Brito and Nolasco for Brazil’s Rensga Produções, with Brito also serving as executive producer, the feature arrived to Málaga at post-production stage, with the team finishing sound and seeking partners to complete color correction and image compositing. For The Open Reel, the pickup is in line with the Italian sales company’s focus on indie auteur cinema and its continued work with emerging and established filmmakers on the international festival circuit.
“We have worked with Daniel Nolasco since his debut and know his filmography very well,” Open Reel CEO Cosimo Santoro told Variety, describing “Little Tragedies” as a film that weaves autobiographical elements with subtle irony and restraint.
“The film also confirms Nolasco’s skill behind the camera and his mastery in working with actors, qualities already evident in his earlier features ‘Dry Wind’ and ‘Only Good Things,’ and which make him one of the most compelling voices in contemporary cinema,” he added.
“The themes explored in this deeply personal film, together with the fascinating and erotic imagery through which they are expressed, give us every reason to believe it can post strong sales results, as happened with his previous work, in key territories across Europe, North America and Asia.”
Nolasco broke out internationally with “Dry Wind,” which premiered in Berlin’s Panorama in 2020, following a run of shorts and nonfiction work. His more recent credits include the short “Pedro Had a Horse” and the 2025 feature “Only Good Things,” which played the Frameline San Francisco Intl. LGBTQ Film Festival.
Behind the camera, Nolasco is joined by cinematographer Felipe Quintelas, who previously collaborated with him on “Dry Wind.”
English (US) ·