Sundance doesn’t just present filmmakers with the opportunity to have their films seen — the fest is also a great place to have your work seen by someone who wants to buy it. Gurinder Chadha’s “Blinded by the Light” has scored the biggest deal of the fest thus far, but films are getting snatched up every day out of Park City. Some of the women-directed and co-directed films to find homes in recent days include Rachel Lears’ political documentary “Knock Down the House,” Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage’s snake handler drama “Them That Follow,” and Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, and Edward Burtynsky’s doc exploring humanity’s impact on the world “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch.”
Netflix is reportedly nearing a deal on “Knock Down the House,” a look inside the lives of four working-class, progressive women who enter the world of politics. They ran against incumbents in the elections last fall. Among the candidates is rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was elected to New York’s 14th District and made history as the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress. Cori Bush, Amy Vilela, and Paula Jean Swearengin are also featured in the doc, which Deadline reports drew interest from multiple bidders.
“After the 2016 election, I wanted to tell a big story about people changing American politics in big ways and about power — how it works and how to achieve it,” Lears told us. “I wanted to tell a story about people working to build solidarity across social divides, and about the intersections of economics and injustice based on race, gender, and other aspects of identity.” She explained, “We chose to focus on subjects who would be compelling to watch win or lose and who had strong backstories of personal experience of injustice motivating them to run. We also decided to frame the project around the emerging story of women running in 2018 and chose a cast that reflected a range of perspectives, issues, and geography.”
Lears previously directed the Emmy-nominated doc “The Hand That Feeds,” about undocumented immigrants who took on a New York restaurant chain for abusive working conditions.
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions scored all international rights to “Them That Follow.” Variety broke the news. Set in the hills of Appalachia, Poulton’s feature debut tells the story of a group of snake handlers whose church services involve worshiping with the reptiles. The film sees “a pastor’s daughter (Alice Englert) [carrying] on a forbidden affair with a childhood friend (Thomas Mann) that threatens to put her in conflict with her father’s church,” the source summarizes. Olivia Colman, who is up for an Oscar for her role in “The Favourite,” co-stars.
Poulton drew inspiration from her own experiences for “Them That Follow.” “Growing up in a religious home and community wasn’t easy for me. My family has belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for generations, and has meaningful ties not only to the Mormon religion but to Mormon history. That was the lens through which I saw everything as a child. It literally framed my existence,” she explained to us. “So when it came time for me to carve out my own identity and my own value system, as all young people endeavor to do, I really struggled. Every choice I made, every need I tried to satiate, I had to not only consider repercussions for myself but for my soul. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a young person. It was that pressure I was interested in exploring with our film — following the journey of a young woman as she writhes against these constraints, as she comes to define her life and her faith on her own terms.”
Kino Lorber snagged U.S. rights to “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch.” A press release announced that a theatrical release is planned to coincide with the UN Climate Change Summit 2019, followed by release on TVOD platforms. The third installment of a trilogy that includes “Manufactured Landscapes” and “Watermark,” “Anthropocene” sees its filmmakers traveling to six continents and 20 countries to explore how human beings have reengineered the planet. Oscar-winning “Danish Girl” actress Alicia Vikander narratives the film.
“The indelible cinematography and soundscape of ‘Anthropocene: The Human Epoch’ achieves the highest purpose of art, which is to change hearts and minds. We feel particularly driven by the warming climate to bring this powerful mind-changing film to American audiences. It is also especially appropriate to team up with the educational distribution platform, Kanopy, to reach students, who hold the future in their hands,” commented Wendy Lidell, SVP Theatrical and Nontheatrical Distribution and Acquisitions, Kino Lorber.
When we asked Baichwal what she’d like people to think about after seeing the film, she said, “I want them to reflect on their implication in global landscapes that they are connected to or responsible for — mines, landfill sites, etc. — but would never normally see. Hopefully this reflection helps to shift consciousness without polemics or blame. We are all in it together, some more profoundly than others,” she observed.
Sundance runs until February 3.
