More women-directed films have found homes out of Sundance 2022, joining the likes of Sara Dosa’s “Fire of Love” and Sophie Hyde’s “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.”
A press release announced that MUBI acquired Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s “Free Chol Soo Lee” for North America, U.K., Ireland, Latin America, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Turkey. The doc tells the story of a Korean immigrant who was wrongly convicted of a Chinatown gang murder in San Francisco in the 1970s, and the pan-Asian American movement to free him. “This film, this story, has so much to teach, inspire, and challenge us with as we reflect on this man’s life, which was full of so much suffering and yet also was touched by some of the most compassionate, justice-seeking humans on the planet. Through this story, we see just how hard it is to undo the lasting damage of racism and incarceration on a person’s life, as well as the scars that come from a lack of unconditional love. Despite all the forces that worked against him, Chol Soo Lee still kept trying to pick himself back up and go on, until he just couldn’t any longer,” Ha told us.
Su Kim received the Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Award for Nonfiction for the film, which MUBI will release theatrically in the U.S.
Netflix snagged worldwide rights to “Descendant,” Margaret Brown’s investigation into the last known ship carrying enslaved Africans to the United States. The streamer is presenting the doc alongside Higher Ground, Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company. “I have been humbled and honored to spend four years with the residents of Africatown as they seek justice and reconciliation for what happened in 1860, and what is still happening today,” said Brown, per a press release announcing the acquisition. “I am excited that through Netflix and Higher Ground’s global reach, audiences around the world will learn this powerful history.” “Descendant” was honored with a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Creative Vision at the fest.
Maika Monroe-starrer “Watcher” landed at IFC Midnight, which is distributing the psychological thriller in North America. Deadline reports that Shudder will take the first streaming window. Directed and co-written by Chloe Okuno, “Watcher” follows a woman who senses that she’s being stalked after relocating to Romania.
“I’ve always admired true psychological thrillers that are dedicated to getting us as much as possible into the head of our protagonist – making us feel everything that they are feeling. I was drawn to the simplicity of it as well – the story of a woman who is not believed,” Okuno explained in an interview with us. “It can be a very devastating experience, and one that many people have probably encountered at one time or another. Women in particular frequently are confronted with this sort of patronizing stance from the people around them. We learn to modify our emotions so that we cannot be written off as overly emotional, even if those emotions are justified. It becomes a very exhausting cycle,” she emphasized. “This is a movie that explores that within a more heightened genre scenario, but the core frustrations are ones that I’ve experienced personally and was interested in exploring.”
Variety broke the news that Warner Bros. Pictures and HBO Max snagged “One Mississippi” collaborators and real-life couple Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne’s feature directorial debut, “Am I OK?” The romantic comedy sees Dakota Johnson playing a woman who comes out in her 30s. Sonoya Mizuno plays her best friend. “We were very drawn to the idea of someone discovering, embracing, and acting on their deepest desires,” Notaro and Allynne told us. “Am I OK?” will premiere on HBO Max.
