Lay the Favorite, a fact-based comedy about a private dancer who becomes a player in the world of high-stakes gambling, has sold to the Weinstein Co. A source pegs the deal at a little over $2 million.
The Sundance Film Festival bestowed its awards Saturday night during a ceremony in Park City. The top jury awards went to Beasts of the Southern Wild (drama) and The House I Live In (documentary). Beasts, a breakout feature from director Benh Zeitlin about a six-year-old girl living with her impoverished father near the Mississippi delta, has been picked up for distribution by Fox Searchlight. House, from director Eugene Jarecki, explores the injustices of America's 40-year war on drugs.
Audience awards went to The Surrogate, the drama starring John Hawkes as a man in an iron lung who attempts to lose his virginity, and Searching for Sugar Man, the documenatary about a quest to figure out what happened to an elusive rock star. Both movies found domestic distributors at the festival, with Fox Searchlight paying $6 million for Surrogate and Sony Pictures Classics grabbing Sugar Man for a mid-six figures price tag.
The full list of winners is below (in the order in which they were announced).
Magnolia Pictures has become one of the most active buyers at Sundance this year, scooping up U.S. rights to controversial drama Compliance. Magnolia, which has purchased four films at the festival, is planning a theatrical release for Compliance later this year.
Madmen Entertainment has acquired rights to Matthew Akers' documentary Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The film had its world premiere in the U.S. documentary competition of the festival.
North American rights to Ry Russo-Young's Nobody Walks are being acquired by Magnolia Pictures. The film, which is screening in Sundance's U.S. Dramatic Competition section, is being sold in a mid-to-high six figures deal against significant gross incentives, according to a source close to the negotiations. The deal includes a theatrical commitment.
The drama, co-written by Russo-Young and Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), centers on a young woman from New York who upends a family she stays with in Los Angeles while working on a movie.
Nobody Walks stars John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby, Rosemarie DeWitt, Justin Kirk, India Ennenga and Dylan McDermott.
Sundance films Robot & Frank and Valley of Saints split the festival's Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, The Sundance Institute announced Friday. The films will share a $20,000 cash award.
Participant Media and the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement have partnered to pick up the U.S. theatrical rights to drama Middle of Nowhere.
The movie, written and directed by AFFRM founder Ava DuVernay. DuVernay also produced with Howard Barish and Paul Garnes.
IFC Films has closed a deal to take North American rights to director Antonio Campos' dark drama Simon Killer.
Killer, which bowed Jan. 20 at the Eccles Theatre in the fest's U.S. dramatic competition, centers on a young American man who visits Paris after breaking up with his girlfriend and falls for a mysterious prostitute. The film stars Brady Corbet, Mati Diop, Michael Abiteboul, Constance Rousseau and Lila Salet.
Given the cult of personality required to command his or her cast and crew, it’s unusual for a filmmaker to openly point out his shortcomings, but there’s little about Quentin Dupieux that’s ordinary. Dupieux is a French electronic artist whose music has filled dance floors since 1999 under the pseudonym Mr. Oizo, but he quietly added screenwriting and directing to his resume with a series of music videos, and later, low-profile, quirky features, including 2011’s “killer tire” movie Rubber.
Sundance Selects has purchased North American rights to the U.S. competition documentary How to Survive a Plague, the first film from director David France. A source said the deal was in the high six-figures.
National Geographic Channel has purchased television rights for climate change documentary Chasing Ice. NGC acquired the film from Exposure LLC, a production company that focuses on socially-relevant filmmaking.
The U.S. Documentary Competition film premiered Monday at the Library Center Theatre.
The film follows photographer James Balog as he works on the Extreme Ice Survey, a photography project that used time-lapse cameras to capture evidence of Earth's melting ice.
Entertainment One has acquired North American rights to Kieran Darcy-Smith’s directorial debut Wish You Were Here, the company announced Thursday. The world dramatic competition film bowed at the Library Center Theatre on Jan. 19.
