Sony Pictures Classics acquired Oliver Hermanus’ film Living, starring BAFTA® and Golden Globe® winner Bill Nighy which world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was met with strong reviews. Written by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, Living is a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Ikiru.
President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground and Netflix acquired the documentary Descendant& which won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Watcher, the indie thriller from director Chloe Okuno (Shudder’s V/H/S/94, Slut) which made its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival has been acquired by IFC Midnight. Watcher stars Maika Monroe (It Follows, Greta), Karl Glusman (Love) and Burn Gorman (Torchwood). IFC Midnight will release the film in theaters and on VOD in 2022 with Shudder taking the first streaming window.
CNN Films and TIME Studios have teamed with Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen (RBG, Julia, My Name is Pauli Murray) for Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, a tender yet raw documentary about former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords’ remarkable perseverance following a horrific 2011 assassination attempt that left her with partial paralysis and the language impairment, aphasia. Home movies taken at the hospital, and current-day cinema verité filming, show Gifford’s painstaking and miraculous recovery from a gunshot to her head, and her path to becoming one of America’s most effective advocates for gun violence prevention. The filmmakers also capture a remarkable love story. Nine years after Giffords’ husband Mark Kelly gave up his job as a NASA astronaut to support his wife’s recovery, cameras follow an exuberant Gabrielle Giffords on the 2020 campaign trail supporting Kelly’s successful run for the U.S. Senate for Arizona. Production of Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down is near completion.
Greenwich Entertainment released the official trailer for Mau, the documentary on the life of world-renowned designer Bruce Mau that world premiered as the opening night film of Architecture & Design Film Festival NY 2021.
Ahead of the theatrical premiere, Yellow Veil Pictures released the official trailer for The Long Walk, Mattie Do’s sci-fi mystery film starring Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy, Vilouna Phetmany, Por Silatsa, Noutnapha Soydara, Chanthamone Inoudome, and Vithaya Sombath. The film opens in theaters on February 18, 2022.
Neon released the official trailer for Terror Contagion, Laura Poitras’ Oscar shortlisted short documentary on the Israeli cyberweapons manufacturer NSO Group and its use of Pegasus malware.
MUBI released the official trailer for Great Freedom, the Austrian gay drama film directed by Sebastian Meise that had its World Premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0, the dark fantasy film from TOHO Animation will open in theaters on March 18 in the United States and Canada. The film will also open in select U.S. based IMAX® theaters.
Navalny, Daniel Roher’s revealing documentary thriller about Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, Alexei Navalny has been added to the lineup of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The film is now the tenth and final film in the U.S. Documentary Competition section and will World Premiere on January 25, 2022.
The new official trailer debuted for Worst To First: The True Story of Z100 NYC, the documentary about the birth of America’s most iconic radio station, Z100, and how the legendary Scott Shannon took it from Worst to First. Produced by Elvis Duran, the top rated morning radio personality in America, the film includes an all star cast of musical legends including Clive Davis, Nile Rodgers, Joan Jett, Jon Bon Jovi, Debbie Gibson and many more. Worst To First will be released nationwide on VOD on February 11.
The official trailer debuted for King Knight, the indie horror-comedy film starring Matthew Gray Gubler, Angela Sarafyan, Andy Milonakis, Barbara Crampton and Ray Wise.