Cinema Guild Picks Up Rights To Rotterdam Winner 'Neighboring Sounds'

New York, NY —The Cinema Guild announced today the acquisition of all U.S. distribution rights to Kleber Mendonça Filho’s astounding debut “Neighboring Sounds,” a tense and gripping film about the secrets, fears and desires that lie beneath the surface of a quiet seaside community. “Neighboring Sounds” will receive its US premiere at New Directors / New Films next month and will open theatrically this summer.

Life in a middle-class neighborhood in present day Recife, Brazil, takes an unexpected turn after the arrival of a private security firm. Intended to bring a sense of safety and calm, the mysterious firm instead exposes the residents’ long-repressed discontents and anxieties, setting in motion a series of events that will forever change this once sleepy community. With an ensemble cast that delivers a remarkable performance and writing that constantly keeps you guessing, “Neighboring Sounds” peers inside a culture that revolves around paranoia, fear and revenge.

“It’s not often we come across a film, debut or otherwise, as assured and audacious as ‘Neighboring Sounds,’” commented Ryan Krivoshey. “It completely blew us away. I’m tempted to say Kleber Mendonça Filho is a director to watch, except that he’s already delivered a work that is a must-see. We can’t wait for audiences to discover this film.”

Kleber Mendonça Filho was born in 1968 in Recife, northeastern Brazil. He graduated in journalism and has worked extensively as a film critic and also as a film programmer. In the 1990s, he made documentaries, experimental films and fiction as a videomaker. Over the last decade, his short films “The Little Cotton Girl” (2003), “Green Vinyl” (2004), “Eletrodoméstica” (2005), “Friday Night Saturday Morning” (2006) and “Cold Tropics” (2009) have won over 100 awards. Kleber Mendonça Filho was honored with a retrospective for his short works at the 2007 Rotterdam Film Festival. “Neighboring Sounds” is his first fiction feature. It premiered at the 2012 Rotterdam Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI Award.

The deal was negotiated by Ryan Krivoshey of The Cinema Guild with Kleber Mendonça Filho of CinemaScopio.