Toronto: Covert Media Launches Lexica as Foreign Sales Label
In a pre-Toronto Film Festival move, year-old Covert Media has launched Lexica Films as an international sales label for foreign-language feature film titles for the worldwide marketplace.
Covert is aiming to launch five-ten films per year through Lexica and will also be handling English-language remake rights, in many cases. Covert’s president of international, Liz Kim Schwan, will lead the division.
“Broadening our reach into foreign language films is a natural step for Covert Media and we are proud to announce the Lexica label,” said CEO Paul Hanson. “The quality and commercial appeal of these films from some of the most talented filmmakers from all corners of the world enables us to expand the range of the distinctive projects we can offer to the worldwide marketplace.”
The first title announced under the new label is disaster film “Earthquake,” which will be presented to buyers in Toronto. Covert is handling all international sales outside of Russia, France and China, along with the North American rights.
The film is a potential candidate as the Armenian entry for this year’s foreign-language awards category. Konstantin Lavronenko stars in a fictional account of the devastating 1988 Spitak earthquake that destroyed over 300 towns in Armenia, displacing more than half a million people.
“Earthquake” is directed by Sarik Andreasyan from a script by Aleksey Gravitskiy and Sergey Yudakov, with participation from Grant Barsegyan and Arsen Danielyan. The cast also includes Sabina Akhmedova and newcomer Viktor Stepanyan.
The film is set for a December release under the title “Zemletryasenie” in 1,000 theaters in Russiaby Caro Premier Film Company.
Covert Media launched a year ago with Media Content Capital and Hanson aiming to produce, finance and distribute three to four films a year with budgets in the $10 million to $50 million range. Its production slate includes the upcoming “Ophelia,” starring Naomi Watts and Daisy Ridley
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