Sundance Prizewinning Trans Drama ‘Mutt’ to be Sold Internationally by Best Friend Forever (EXCLUSIVE)

“Mutt,” the Sundance prize-winning feature debut of New York-based filmmaker Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, has been boarded by Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever.

“Mutt,” which just won the Special Jury Award for actor Lío Mehiel (“WeCrashed”) at Sundance, will next play at the Berlin Film Festival in the Generation 14+ strand. CAA Media Finance is handling North American rights, while Best Friend Forever represents the rest of the world.

Lungulov-Klotz is a Chilean-Serbian filmmaker who previously participated in the Sundance Institute Labs, the Tribeca Film Institute, and the Ryan Murphy HALF Initiative Program. His award winning trans-themed short film “Still Liam” played at several festivals and was championed by queer filmmakers Ira Sachs and Silas Howard, who have both become mentors.

Described as an emotional drama overlapping past, present and future, “Mutt” follows Feña, a young trans guy bustling through life in New York City. Over the course of a single hectic day, Feña is swept through the extremes of human emotion, when people who seemed to disappear when he transitioned are suddenly back in his life.

Mehiel stars in the film opposite Cole Doman (“Gossip Girl“), Mimi Ryder (“Matilda The Musical”) and Alejandro Goic (“Blanquita”). Producers are Alexander Stegmaier, Stephen Scott Scarpulla, Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, Jennifer Kuczaj and Joel Michaely.

“This New York-set, 24-hour dive into Feña’s life offers us not only a crowd-pleaser and a gem of indie American cinema but a fun and beautifully-crafted new Queer narrative on trans life,” said Martin Gondre and Charles Bin, Best Friend Forever co-founders. The pair added that “it’s easy to identify with every character involved. Mutt will leave you emotional and with the feeling that you have also experienced these days of ‘in-betweenness,’ even if you’re not trans.” The deal was negotiated between Best Friend Forever and CAA Media Finance.

Best Friend Forever’s roster for the European Film Market also includes market premieres of “Anti-Squat” by Nicolas Silhol, whose previous film “Corporate” reached more that $2 million at the French B.O., Michaël Dichter’s “The Fantastic Three” and Angela Ottobah’s “Rapture,” as well as the Spanish romantic comedy “Ramona” and Oscar-nominated director Alê Abreu’s family animation “Perlimps,” among others.

The company was launched in Cannes 2019 and is a sister company of Paris based Indie Sales.