Paris-based sales outfit Charades has scored a raft of deals on “Shut Up and Play the Piano,” Philipp Jedicke’s career-spanning documentary portrait of Chilly Gonzales, the Grammy-winning pianist, composer and entertainer.
The documentary feature, which world premiered at Berlin in the Panorama section, was sold by Charades to Canada (MK2 Mile End), Japan (Transformers), South Korea (At Nine), Austria (Stadtkino), France (Rouge), Spain (Avalon), Poland (Against Gravity), CIS (Beat), Israel (Yesdocu), Turkey (Fabula), Taiwan (Flash Forward Entertainment) and Singapore (Anticipate).
Gonzales, whose real name is Jason Charles Beck, is a self-styled Canadian musician who started out as an underground electro-rapper and reinvented himself as a solo pianist.
Produced by Rapid Eye Movies and Gentle Threat, the documentary feature marks the directorial debut of Jedicke, a German journalist who covers music and culture.
Charades has three films playing at Cannes: Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Summer” (“Leto”) in the festival’s official competition, Mamoru Hosoda’s “Mirai” at Directors’ Fortnight, and
Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s “Diamantino” at Critics’ Week.
Source : Variety
