Sundance 2013: IFC Nabs 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints'

PARK CITY -- IFC has closed a deal to acquire domestic rights for Ain't Them Bodies Saints. Sources peg the deal at just north of $1 million, sources tell THR.

Four distributors including IFC were locked in a battle for the David Lowery-helmed drama Thursday night and Friday morning.

The film premiered in Sundance's U.S. Dramatic Competition section at Eccles Theatre on Jan. 20 and has been drawing raves since. With showy performances by stars Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck and Ben Foster, the drama was considered one of the hottest titles coming into Sundance and is being dubbed a possible awards-season contender.

THR's Todd McCarthy called the film "a beautiful, densely textured elegy for outlaw lovers separated by their own misdeeds ... (and) will serve most decisively to put director-writer David Lowery on the map as one of the foremost young standard bearers of the Malick and Altman schools of impressionistic mood-drenched cinema."

Penned by Lowery, the story follows the tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and travels across Texas to reunite with his wife and the daughter he's never met before.

Ain't Them Bodies Saints also stars Nate Parker and Keith Carradine.

WME Global and Cassian Elwes are co-repping the filmmakers.

Email: Tatiana.Siegel@THR.com, Daniel.Miller@THR.com; Twitter: @TatianaSiegel27, @DanielNMiller