Sundance 2012: Participant Media, AFFRM Partner for 'Middle of Nowhere'

"Middle of Nowhere"

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.

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The movie, written and directed by AFFRM founder Ava DuVernay. DuVernay also produced with Howard Barish and Paul Garnes.

Nowhere is a drama chronicling a woman’s separation from her incarcerated husband and her journey to maintain her marriage and her identity.

The movie will use marketing and promotional support through a collective of black film organizations, the same model AFFRM enacted on its first release, DuVernay’s I Will Follow, released in March 2011. (In December 2011, AFFRM distributed last year’s Sundance World Cinema Drama Audience Award winner, Kinyarwanda.)

No date has been set for Nowhere but the company is eyeing a release later this year.

Said DuVernay. “For AFFRM and Participant to combine forces on this film is a bold, ground-breaking move for two companies dedicated to connecting and empowering audiences of every hue through cinema.”  

“Middle of Nowhere is only Ava DuVernay’s second feature, but it reflects the finesse and sensitivity of a far more experienced storyteller and the kind of quality filmmaking that’s been a hallmark of Participant,” said Participant’s exec vo of production Jonathan King. “We’re very excited to be joining forces with her and her team at AFFRM, and lookforward to developing a marketing and Social Action campaign that illuminates the film’s themes and engages communities around the country.”