The Open Reel Takes Sales on Málaga Winner ‘Little Tragedies’

Italy’s The Open Reel has picked up worldwide 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 movie collected a €5,000 ($5,752) money prize at MAFIZ, Málaga’s trade hub, during the competition’s twenty ninth version, held March 6-15. Written and directed by Nolasco, “Pequenas tragédias” attracts on an overtly private premise to explore reminiscence, distance and queer belonging.

Set in 2011, the movie begins when Nolasco leaves his small hometown of Catalão, in Brazil’s inside, for Rio de Janeiro to attend school. He is the first of a bunch of queer associates to go away. 10 years later, none of them stay there: some have died, while the others have moved away.

The movie unfolds as a private story of reminiscence, loss and belonging set in Catalão, a spot everybody says is “too good to live in,” hinting at the tensions beneath the floor.

Produced by Cecília Brito and Nolasco for Brazil’s Rensga Produções, with Brito also serving as government producer, the feature arrived to Málaga at post-production stage, with the team ending sound and in search of companions to finish coloration correction and picture compositing. For The Open Reel, the pickup is consistent with the Italian sales company’s focus on indie auteur cinema and its continued work with rising and established filmmakers on the worldwide competition 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 movie that weaves autobiographical components with delicate 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 latest credit embrace the quick “Pedro Had a Horse” and the 2025 feature “Only Good Things,” which performed the Frameline San Francisco Intl. LGBTQ Film Festival.

Behind the digicam, Nolasco is joined by cinematographer Felipe Quintelas, who beforehand collaborated with him on “Dry Wind.”