Version Digital to Distribute Life Affirming Spanish ALS Documentary ‘7 Lakes 7 Lives’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Latido Films has closed a seven-country theatrical release agreement with Spanish distributor Versión Digital for Victor Escribano’s debut documentary “7 Lakes 7 Lives,” produced by two-time Spanish Academy Goya-winning director and producer José Luis López Linares.
Having passed through the Malaga Film Festival and now on its way to Cannes, the touching documentary will be released in Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania through an agreement with Digital Version, which will also handle Spanish distribution this summer.
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The film follows the charismatic Dabiz Riaño, a scientific emeritus at CSIC (Superior Council of Scientific Investigations) who, after having coped for 10 years with ALS, decides to embark on a journey to Eastern Europe’s most impressive lakes. In those often-ice-cold waters, his body feels more at ease and gives Riaño a breath of fresh air as he tackles a disease that is degenerative and has no known cure.
Filmed over six months, the journey was often recorded by Riaño himself with a GoPro camera. The footage was then transformed by Escribano into a road movie filled with humor and shining glimmers of empathy and humanity contrasted with the hardships that Riaño’s condition entails.
“It’s a journey towards fulfilling one’s dreams, a journey of denunciation, but also of winning battles in life, even if they are small or no one else cares,” said Latido Films’ Antonio Saura.
Accompanied and helped by a Senegalese taxi driver, Capi, whose aid and care are the heroes of the story, Riaño’s view on the world and his resilience to defend his rights at any cost give a deep insight into the daily struggles that are made invisible by an often unprepared society, “designed by and for ‘normal’ people who rely on ableist arguments to discriminate against us because of our functional diversity,” said Riaño.
“Accessibility is only the tip of the iceberg, but there are infinite functional diversities that require the application of policies that allow full inclusion. The laws are there and what must be achieved is that people with functional diversity are put in important decision-making positions,” he finished.
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