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EXCLUSIVE: Flying Hands, a documentary film about one family’s fight to provide education and establish equal rights for deaf children in the remote Pakistan-administered Baltisan region, has been nabbed by several broadcasters.

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The World channel has snagged it for the U.S. Other buyers include NPO in the Netherlands, DW in Germany and TV3 Catalunya.

Flying Hands tells the story Aniqa Bano and her daughter, who is born deaf but later enters the hearing world after an operation. Bano and her husband open a school for deaf children.

From writer-director duo Marta Gómez and Paula Iglesias, the film has had a solid festival run after its world premiere at Hot Docs last year. It has garnered several accolades including Best Documentary Feature at the London Women Film Festival and Paris Women Cinefest.

Set in Baltistan, a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, the film open with Bano relaying a story of meeting a father who did not even know what his deaf daughter was called: “Deaf children were never given a name,” she says in the voiceover. “They were named after their disability.”

Bano, however, gives her deaf daughter a name, Narjis. “I fought for her so that she would have an identity,” she explains. She goes on to establish a boarding school for deaf children and the film follows her, her husband, and Narjis as they run the school and attempt to persuade parents their deaf children deserve an education.

Flying Hands is produced by Al Borde Films and Labografías Nodos de Expresión. In the U.S. it will launch on Mother’s Day, May 11.

Boutique distributor Limonero Films is handling sales and has cut the international deals. Speaking about the U.S. deal, Limonero CEO and Founder Pamela Martinez Martinez said: “We have worked closely with the filmmakers on its festival and sales strategy, which has seen the film premiering at Hot Docs, followed by many other festivals and TV sales.”

Speaking about the World channel deal, she added: “The US release, on Mother´s Day is such a proud moment for the whole team. We can’t wait for the American audience to enjoy this beautiful story of family and resilience.”

The Sales and Acquisitions Executive at Limonero Films describes the company’s latest acquisitions, new projects, and the strategy to stand out in the vast pool of content.

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Boutique distributor Limonero Films has started the year with recent acquisitions that have sold in several territories, as well as new projects currently in development. “Since we are a small distributor, we take pride in nurturing our filmmakers,” stated Ester Català, Sales and Acquisitions Executive at the company, in a chat with Señal News. “It’s important for us to commit to content that we believe in, stories that are wide-reaching and that present audiences with unique angles or points of view,” she commented.

One of Limonero’s newest acquisitions is “The Mission” (3×52’), produced by SBS Documentary Unit in Australia. It’s a crime and investigation series featuring award-winning journalist Marc Fennell, who tries to piece together the hidden story of the strangest art heist most people have never heard of: the theft of 26 masterpieces from a Western Australian monastery. “It’s a dynamic and impactful story which is full of surprising twists all the way to the end,” she said. The distributor has recently sold the title to Netflix in Australia and New Zealand and to Proximus in Belgium, with more conversations currently in the works.

Català also mentioned the one-off current affairs documentary “The Sharp Edge of Peace” (1×60’) by director Roya Sadat. It’s an Afghanistan and USA co-production about women’s rights and politics set after the Taliban took over in 2021. “It’s a strong political thriller that has attracted great interest globally,” she asserted. Limonero Films sold the title to SIC Notícias in Portugal and to DW in Germany, and they are about to announce more sales.

Another recent Limonero acquisition is “Nazi Ratlines in Franco’s Madrid” (1×58’), a one-off history documentary from Spain directed by Javier Reyes, commissioned by RTVE. The title was recently sold to AMC Networks Iberia, PBS UK, and SBS Australia. “It explores how Madrid and Franco’s regime became a crucial nexus for a great number of German Nazis and Italian fascists fleeing Europe at the time. It’s insightful and international in scope,” Català commented.

In addition, Limonero Films picked up a new program from the US called “Americonned” (1×97’), a feature-length documentary that tackles economic inequality in the USA. The TV version is being edited down, due to popular demand.

GLOBAL SALES
Limonero Films kicked off the year on the right track. “Blue Carbon”, a CNN original, Canal Plus France and NDR documentary, produced in collaboration with Make Waves Media and Tangle Bank Studios, recently sold to CBC in Canada, Pro Plus in Slovenia, Caracol TV in Colombia, RTBF and Proximus in Belgium, RTVE in Spain and QuiverTree Media for inflight. The film has also been licensed to Betevé in Catalonia and Brite Now in Thailand. “It presents a very positive look at the climate emergency situation now, offering solutions” she said.

The company also recently sold “La Dolce Vita” (3×52’) to Mediawan in France. The mini-series, produced by Secuoya Studios, follows pastry chefs Paco and Jacob Torreblanca as they travel through France, Italy, and Spain, meeting iconic pastry chefs and learning techniques and traditional recipes. “It’s an excellent, well-produced series where one gets to meet the most iconic pastry chefs out there,” she added.

WHAT’S NEXT?
The Barcelona-based distributor is committed to a series of new projects at different stages of development and/or production. Among their project slate, they are happy to be reaching the late stages of development for “Antiquity Seekers”, a 6×60 series produced by Limmat Films, in which renowned archaeologist and TV presenter Prof. Joann Fletcher and her partner, acclaimed archaeological scientist Dr. Stephen Buckley, embark on an epic expedition across ancient Africa, Asia, America and Europe. “We have great partners already on board and are very excited to be moving the series to their production phase soon,” Catalá concluded.

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Melbourne, 28^th of February 2025

For immediate release:

Limonero Films launches new titles at AIDC, The Mission Now Available on Netflix in Australia and New Zealand

Limonero Film is launching three new titles at AIDC in Melbourne. Americonned, a feature documentary about two US workers leading a movement to unionize for the first time at one of the world’s largest companies, and two crime and investigation series from 3Cat in Catalunya: I fell in Love with a Scammer 3 x 50´, and Exploited, The Ventalló Case 3 x 40´.

Limonero Films´ CEO, Pamela Martínez, is attending the Australian International Documentary Conference in person for the first time. This coincides with licensing of The Mission 3 x 50´, an SBS Documentary Original series that the sales outlet has licensed to the streaming giant for ANZ, and to Proximus in Belgium. 

Synopsis: Award winning journalist Marc Fennell sets off on a global treasure hunt to piece together the hidden story of the strangest art heist you’ve never heard of – the theft of 26 masterpieces from a Western Australian monastery. However, what he ends up discovering is worse than anyone could have ever imagined.

In addition to this release, Limonero Films is adding the above-mentioned new titles to their catalogue.

Lanneke Hargreaves, MD Of Current Affairs at SBS said:

“The Mission is an award-winning documentary produced by the SBS News and Current Affairs division. I am very excited for it to reach new audiences now that it will be available on Netflix in Australia and New Zealand.”

Pamela Martínez Martínez, Limonero Films´ Founder and CEO, said:

“I am thrilled that The Mission will be available to members on NETFLIX in ANZ next week. It’s a great honour to be part of AIDC in person this year, where I will be discussing sales strategy for some of our films, and meeting with industry colleagues and friends.”

Limonero Films is an independent boutique distributor of factual programming and documentaries based in Barcelona.

Other links:

AIDC Pamela Martínez Martínez

SBS The Mission

For more information please contact:

Pamela Martinez Martínez, CEO

pamela@limonerofilms.com

+34 693231432

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Barcelona-based boutique distributor Limonero Films has locked sales for the art-heist docuseries The Mission from Australian pubcaster SBS to Netflix for Australia and New Zealand, as well as to Proximus for Belgium.

Produced by SBS News and Current Affairs division, the 3 x 50-minute series follows award-winning journalist Marc Fennell as he sets out on a global journey to uncover the hidden story of the theft of 26 masterpieces from a monastery in Western Australia.

Coinciding with the sale, Limonero will also be launching three new doc titles at the 2025 Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC), which runs from March 2 to 5 in Melbourne.

Produced by Shine the Light Films and directed by Sean Claffey, the feature documentary Americonned follows two workers leading a unionization movement at one of the world’s largest companies as part of a wider examination of income inequality in the U.S.

Also launching at AIDC ’25 are two crime and investigation series from 3Cat in Catalunya: I Fell in Love with a Scammer (3 x 45 min.), about a con man who seduced a series of women through dating apps to fleece them of their money; and Exploited: The Ventalló Case (3 x 40 min.), about the bombshell 1992 investigation in Ventalló that uncovered a network of nightclubs involved in human trafficking and the exploitation of minors.