While the whirlwind of the Toronto International Film Festival is now behind us, the deals from TIFF are continuing. Over the weekend, many women-created, women-focused films were picked up by major distributors.
Magnolia Pictures picked up Ramaa Mosley’s directorial feature debut, The Brass Teapot starring Juno Temple. And they also got Janet Tobias’s documentary No Place on Earth about 38 Ukrainian Jews who spent 511 days underground hiding from Nazis during the Holocaust. It received a standing ovation after its premiere.
Sony Pictures Classics has picked up two films. The first, The Patience Stone, directed by Atiq Rahimi, is about a Middle-Eastern woman (Golshifteh Farahani) who begins a relationship with a soldier despite trying to keep her husband, who is in a coma, alive. Reviews from TIFF were extremely positive for the film. They also bought the rights for Wadjda, the first feature to be directed by a woman from Saudi Arabia, Haifaa Al-Mansour. The film focuses on a 10 year old who challenges Saudi traditions in order to buy her own bike. The film was shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. Both are scheduled to be released in 2013.
HBO Documentary Films acquired the U.S. TV rights to Liz Garbus’s documentary Love, Marilyn. The documentary features archival footage and interviews of Monroe and some of her husbands including Arthur Miller and Joe DiMaggio. It also has readings by celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Uma Thurman. No release has been set.
IFC Films bought the rights to Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which opened the Venice Film Festival. The film is about a young Pakistani man who is trying to gain success on Wall Street received mixed reviews at TIFF. No release date has been scheduled.
TIFF Deal Update: Magnolia Buys ‘No Place on Earth,’ IFC Nabs Nair’s ‘Reluctant Fundamentalist’ (Thompson on Hollywood)
Toronto 2012: Sony Pictures Classics Takes ‘The Patience Stone’ (The Hollywood Reporter)
SPC Buys Haifaa Al-Mansour’s ‘Wadjda,” the First-Ever Feature By a Female Saudi Filmmaker (Indiewire)
Toronto 2012: Magnolia Pictures Acquires North American Rights to ‘The Brass Teapot’ (The Hollywood Reporter)
Toronto 2012: HBO Doc Films Takes U.S. Rights to Liz Garbus’ ‘Love, Marilyn’ (The Hollywood Reporter)
