Italian
Chile’s most bankable stars, Paulina Garcia (“Gloria”), Alfredo Castro (“El Conde”) and Luis Gnecco (“No”), are leading the voice cast in the upcoming animated feature “Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope.” Producer Sebastián Freund (“Dad to the Rescue”), who launched Rizco Content Sales with partner Ángel Zambrano last October at Iberseries, has pounced on the international streaming rights to the toon and boarded as an executive producer.
“Securing the international streaming rights for this vital and emblematic project, which portrays a significant chapter in the shared history of Chile, Spain, and Argentina, marks a major milestone for our agency and the global market for diverse audiences,” said Freund, who is attending Ventana Sur where the project participates in the annual event’s Animation! WIP section.
Co-produced by Spain’s La Ballesta and Dibulitoon Studio, Chile’s El Otro Film, and Argentina’s Malabar Prods, “Winnipeg” unfolds through the reflections of 86-year-old Julia, who revisits her childhood memories as 7-year-old Julia who joins her father in an odyssey that begins in Barcelona, through concentration camps in France and onto the Winnipeg, a ship carrying over 2,400 refugees, culminating in their arrival in Valparaíso, Chile, on September 3, 1939.
Popular on Variety The toon is inspired by the graphic novel ‘Winnipeg, the Ship of Neruda’ by Spain’s Laura Martel, who spent years researching the ship’s history and interviewing survivors who reached Valparaíso just a day before the outbreak of World War II.
The Winnipeg’s voyage was made possible by Chilean poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda and Argentine artist Delia del Carril, whose efforts brought the ship to Chile. There, it was received by Dr. Salvador Allende, then the Minister of Health under President Pedro Aguirre Cerda.
“Having three of the most renowned actors from Chile’s national stage lend their voices to the main cast is a true privilege for this animated film. Paulina Garcia will lend her voice to the protagonist Julia, Luis Gnecco voices Neruda and Alfredo Castro, the voice of Salvador Allende,” said producer Marianne Mayer-Beckh of El Otro Film.
Gnecco previously played the Nobel Prize-winning poet in Pablo Larrain’s 2016 drama, “Neruda.”
“Winnipeg” is directed by Elio Quiroga (“Fotos”) and Beñat Beitia (“Cher Ami”) from a screenplay they co-penned with Martel. They aim to wrap the project by late 2025 and stage a world premiere by the first semester of the following year.
Ventana Sur kicked off on Dec. 2 and wraps on Dec. 6 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
