Aya Movies Snags All U.Ok. Rights to Dominican Republic ‘s ‘Ramona’ From Alief Forward of Its BFI London Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

Aya Films has snatched all U.K. and Ireland rights to the Dominican Republic’s “Ramona” from Paris-based film company Alief SAS ahead of its BFI London Film Fest premiere.

The docu-fiction hybrid, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Berlinale’s Generation 14Plus sidebar, will have its U.S. West Coast premiere at the AFI Latin America festival after BFI London. Alief previously sold the U.S. rights to Grasshopper and Mexican rights to Salon de Belleza since the Berlinale, which plan to release the film in the spring.

Victoria Linares Villegas’ sophomore feature, co-written with Diego Cepeda, sheds light on the little-known fact that the Dominican Republic has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to Linares Villegas herself, who said: “It’s a great feeling to be back at the BFI with my second feature film. I’m equally thrilled that we’ll be able to share it on the UK’s big screens next year with Aya Films.”

“This is an exciting new chapter in ‘Ramona’s’ journey around the world, and I can’t wait to discuss our film with British audiences,” she added.

The Lantica Media and Sky Films co-production turns on young actress, Camila Santana, who in preparing to play the role of a 15-year-old pregnant girl called Ramona, travels across the country to talk with pregnant young girls. In the process, as the girls talk about their lives and candidly discuss their circumstances on camera and how the fictitious Ramona should act and appear, they gradually influence the film production itself, taking it into new and unexpected terrain.

“Villegas has created a bold and beautifully shot film that pushes the boundaries of fiction and non-fiction — bringing a distinct form of storytelling to the screen,” said Justine Atkinson, founder-director of Aya Films, which releases the film in U.K. cinemas in March.

“’Ramona’ blends styles of documentary, fiction and theatre to create a narrative that interrogates the purpose of storytelling and the meaning of the representational gaze. Each character adds to the direction of the lead protagonist and the film becomes an ode to the power of collaborative creativity,” she added.

Said Miguel Angel Govea, partner at Alief: ”We are thrilled to have our thought-provoking docu fiction ‘Ramona’ play at BFI London and secure a UK theatrical release with Aya Films, just in time for the festivities!”

Alief, a UK-French film company, describes itself as a hybrid media sales, production and distribution company with a mission to bring genre, and auteur storytelling to audiences and critics alike, working in all stages of the production process, from script development and funding to sales & distribution.

Its TIFF Market titles include: LGBTQ drama “Voices in Deep” by Australian filmmaker Jason Raftopolous (MIFF ‘23); thriller “Failure!” with Ted Raimi by Mexico’s Alex Kahuam (Frightfest ‘23); neuro diverse documentary “Because we have each other” by Sari Braithewhite (HOT DOCS ‘23); Swiss minimalist thriller “Retreat” by Leon Schwitter (FIPRESCI Prize – 32, Filmkunstfest 2023); LGBTQ creative doc “Playland” by Georden West (Tribeca ‘23) and Nigerian fantasy adventure “Mami Wata” by CJ Obasi (Sundance Winner ‘23).