Life of Jorge Luis Borges lands Luxbox deal before Venice premiere
Luxbox has taken world sales on Mariano Llinás’ five-and-a-half-hour Borges documentary before its Venice debut, Variety reports.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
2 min read
Luxbox Films has acquired worldwide sales rights to Life of Jorge Luis Borges, Mariano Llinás’ five-and-a-half-hour documentary about the Argentine writer and poet, Variety reported.
The film is set to make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it will screen in the Open Non-Fiction section, according to Variety.
The deal puts Luxbox in charge of selling the documentary to international buyers. In practical terms, a world sales agent represents a film across territories, looking for distributors, broadcasters or other partners outside the production’s own release plans.
What is Life of Jorge Luis Borges about?
Variety reported that the documentary constructs a biography of Jorge Luis Borges through a close study of the material he left behind, the books he read and the places he visited.
A statement about the film described it as an effort to understand an unusual life: Borges as a writer who treated literature as both a territory and a mission. The statement compared his work in a library to Cold War spies defending their side from desks or empty houses, with Borges working to expand the realm of readers who see books, stories and language as central to the world.
Borges, one of Argentina’s most famous literary figures, is the subject of a project with a runtime that matches Llinás’ appetite for scale. Variety noted that Llinás is best known for La Flor, the 2018 film described, excluding experimental works or film exercises, as the longest movie in cinema history.
Before La Flor, Llinás directed Balnearios in 2002 and Historias Extraordinarias in 2008. Variety reported that both films had notable festival play.
Who made the Borges documentary?
Life of Jorge Luis Borges comes from El Pampero Cine, the Argentine group Llinás founded in 2003 with Alejo Moguillansky, Agustín Mendilaharzu and Laura Citarella, according to Variety.
The producers are Citarella, Ezequiel Pierr, Mendilaharzu, Moguillansky and Llinás for El Pampero Cine. Llinás wrote the film, while Mendilaharzu served as director of photography, Variety reported.
The creative team also includes Ezequiel Pierri as production designer, Ignacio Codino as editor and Gabriel Chwojnik as composer. The film’s listed protagonists include Ernesto Montequín, Nicolás Helft, Laura Paredes, Milva Leonardi and Pablo Dacal.
The Venice slot gives the documentary a high-profile launch before Luxbox takes it to the market. For a film built around Borges’ papers, reading life and travels, the festival premiere also places Llinás’ latest long-form work in front of the international arthouse crowd that has followed his previous festival titles.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.