Yahoo Finance Mediacrest, A Contracorriente Ink Distribution, Co-Production Pact
In a bid to up their game in the Spanish and international arena, Barcelona-based companies Mediacrest and A Contracorriente Films have forged a strategic alliance that will have the latter distribute Mediacrest films and series as well as co-produce a selection of titles with the fast-growing producer.
Said Adolfo Blanco, CEO of A Contracorriente Films: “For A Contracorriente, the deal is an opportunity to collaborate with a first-rate team and to be able to offer its clients and partners a number of films and series designed to reach the general public.”
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“By participating in the genesis of the projects, we will be better able to tailor the right model for each of them,” he added.
First out the gate is the adaptation of the 1945 Premio Nadal award-winning novel “Nada” by Carmen Laforet. The literary sensation is narrated by a young orphaned woman who leaves her small town to attend university in post-civil war Barcelona.
Led by Francisco Pou, Mediacrest, which also has offices in Madrid, recently joined forces with top arthouse distributor-producer Wanda Vision on filmmaker Gerardo Olivares’ docu-fiction project, “Lonely Man.”
In August, the fledgling company pacted with Chilean producer Maria Elena Wood on Mars-set dystopian series “Humanity,” which was presented at European TV industry event, Series Mania, in Lille, France. Two Mediacrest productions, “Vida” and “A House on the Beach,” have been awarded prizes from the Spanish Film Commission and Spanish pubcaster RTVE’s streaming platform Playz at September’s Pamplona-based industry event, Conecta Fiction.
A Contracorriente is the leading indie distributor in Spain, which also releases self-produced films such as “The Distinguished Citizen,” a Best Ibero-American film winner of Spain’s Goya and the Premios Platino in 2017, and Isabel Coixet’s “The Bookstore,” winner of three Goya awards in 2018. Since 2014, it has been the main shareholder of the Cines Conde Duque and Verdi exhibition circuits.
At the San Sebastian Film Festival last September, A Contracorriente Films unveiled a new development fund for film and TV projects in tandem with Johnny Depp’s London-based upstart, IN.2 Films.
In June, the Barcelona-based private investment fund Suma Capital took a 40% stake, estimated at about €15 million ($17.9 million), in A Contracorriente Films, designed to bolster the distributor’s movie acquisition capacity and make it one of Europe’s top indie distribution companies.
Founded in Barcelona in 2009, A Contracorriente handles an extensive catalog of more than 1,500 movie and TV series titles, sold across all platforms, including cinemas, pay and free-to-air TV channels and VOD.
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