‘Blue Carbon’ Doc Acquired By Limonero Films Ahead Of Sunny Side Market

EXCLUSIVE: Limonero Films has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Blue Carbon, an innovative environmental-themed documentary produced by MAKE Waves Media that features the participation of Grammy-nominated music producer and DJ Jayda Guy, Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, and Brazilian musician Seu Jorge. Limonero, based in London and Barcelona, will launch sales of the film at Sunny Side of the Doc, the world’s largest documentary-focused market, which kicks off today in La Rochelle, France.

Blue Carbon, directed by Emmy and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Nicolas Brown (The Serengeti Rules) and executive produced by Oscar-nominated director Fernando Meirelles and Sarah Macdonald, premiered on CNN earlier this year.

“Filmed in the USA, Senegal, Vietnam, France, Colombia and Brazil, the documentary explores the relatively newly-discovered potential of oceans to absorb much more carbon from the atmosphere than even tropical rainforests,” notes a description of the documentary. “This ‘Blue Carbon’ as scientists are now calling it, can be found in salt-marshes, sea-grasses and mangroves, and are becoming increasingly attractive investments for big corporations looking to offset their emissions through carbon credit schemes.”

“Blue Carbon,” according to a synopsis, “is an environmental documentary that brings together music and science to uncover why listening to nature, and to each other, is key for averting climate catastrophe.”

La Rochelle, the historic port on France’s Atlantic coast, is a particularly appropriate place to launch sales of Blue Carbon, given its seaside location.

“I am beyond excited to be representing this amazing film,” said Pamela Martínez Martínez, founder and CEO of Limonero Films. “Our relationship with MAKE Waves Media has been crucial for the development of my company from its humble beginnings. They have been colleagues, friends and mentors, and I couldn’t be prouder to take on this wonderful story and present it to the world. The Sunny Side market is the perfect place to start sharing it with buyers.”

In a statement, EP Sarah Macdonald said, “We are excited to be partnering with such a powerhouse as Pamela Martinez and her company, Limonero Films. This is a glorious, but vitally important film that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.”

Blue Carbon is told through the eyes of Guy, who is not only a record producer and DJ but a marine toxicologist.

“Blue Carbon is so important but people know so little about it – I want it to be as well known as the Amazon rainforest,” Guy comments on the film’s website. “It has such potential to help us combat climate change, as long as we listen to and learn from the stories of people working to protect Blue Carbon. It’s made me hopeful about our future and has helped me feel more connected with mother nature. I hope that when people watch this film they feel the same way.”

The documentary, with a score by RZA featuring Seu Jorge, includes encounters with Florida manatees, American crocodiles, and humpback whales that rely on healthy marine ecosystems.

“In this film we are bringing together opposites — dance music and nature, or clubbing and conservation — with the aim of bringing new hope to new audiences,” observed director Nicolas Brown. “Crucially, the film raises the voices of people — as well as the ecosystems — that sit on the front lines of the climate and biodiversity crisis. It is time to listen to what they say!”

As Deadline reported in 2021, Blue Carbon is part of a slate of environmental documentaries from Fernando Meirelles, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker known for The Two Popes, The Constant Gardener, and City of God. Announcing the slate, he told Deadline, “There is nothing more urgent than the climate crisis. Information is what can turn the tide. Our goal is to make films that not only inform, but that enchant and engage. For my grandchildren and the grandchildren of others, that will be the theme of my work until the day I die.”