New York, NY – October 2, 2008 – IFC Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to Bela Tarr’s Hungarian drama Man From London, starring Academy Award winning actress Tilda Swinton as Camelia. The film, which premiered in Cannes Competition in 2007, will be released through IFC’s Festival Direct, which makes select films that have screened at marquee film festivals available on-demand to a national U.S. audience.
"A long admirer of Bela’s films, we saw Man From London in Cannes last year, and immediately wanted the opportunity to work with him," said Jonathan Sehring, President of IFC Entertainment. "Tilda Swinton and Miroslav Krobot together give stellar performances alongside an exceptional supporting cast. We are looking forward, with great anticipation, to bringing this film to American audiences."
Man From London was written by Laszlo Krasznahorkai and Bela Tarr and produced by Gabor Teni, Paul Saadoun, Miriam Zachar, Joachim von Vietinghoff and Christoph Hahnheiser. The film stars Tilda Swinton opposite Czech actor Miroslav Krobot as well as an international ensemble cast featuring British actress Leah Williams, and Hungarian actors Janos Derzsi and Istvan Lenart.
Bela Tarr is an award-winning writer/director from Hungary whose body of work includes such films as Family Nest (1978), The Outsider (1980), The Prefab People (1982), Almanac of Fall (1985), Damnation (1988), Satan’s Tango (1994) and Werckmeister Harmonies (2000). In 2005, he was awarded the France Culture Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Based on the French-language novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon, Man From London tells the story of Maloin (Miroslav Krobot), a dour old railway worker trapped in a bleak routine. His home life with his nagging wife (Tilda Swinton) and daughter (Erika Bok) is equally dire until one day, Maloin sees a suitcase being passed off while passengers from London disembark a boat and transfer to a waiting train. After the man who receives the suitcase gets thrown into the harbour by an indistinct assailant, Maloin retrieves the drowned stranger’s soggy case and finds it full of British bills. Soon, a police inspector is searching for the money and Maloin must decide what he will do with his ethically compromised windfall.
Lizzie Nastro, Director of Acquisitions and Production for IFC Films negotiated the acquisition with Winnie Lau from Fortissimo.
About IFC Entertainment
A leader in the independent film industry, IFC Entertainment consists of multiple brands that are devoted to bringing the best of specialty films to the largest possible audience: IFC Films, IFC Productions, and the IFC Center. Through an innovative day-and-date distribution model, IFC Entertainment makes films available to a national audience through theatrical release by its renowned film division, while IFC In Theaters, an on demand service, simultaneously releases these titles to cable and satellite viewers. IFC Festival Direct features a wide selection of titles acquired from major international film festivals and offers them exclusively through on-demand and digital platforms. IFC Productions is a feature film production company that provides financing for select independent film projects. IFC Center is a three screen, state-of-the-art cinema with luxurious seating and HD digital and 35mm projection that shows art-house films in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village. IFC Entertainment’s companies are subsidiaries of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC.
Rainbow Media Holdings LLC
Rainbow Media Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC). Rainbow Media is a leading producer of targeted, multi-platform content for global distribution, creating and managing some of the world’s most compelling and dynamic entertainment brands, including AMC, IFC, WE tv, Sundance Channel, LIFESKOOL, SPORTSKOOL, and VOOM HD Networks. Through IFC Entertainment, Rainbow Media also owns and manages the following: IFC Films, a leading distribution company for independent film; IFC Productions, a feature film production company that provides financing for select independent film projects; and IFC Center, a three screen, state-of-the-art cinema in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village. Rainbow Media also operates Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation, its advertising sales company; Rainbow Network Communications, its full service network programming origination and distribution company; and 11 Penn TV, a company that manages Rainbow Media’s NYC studios and post-production facilities.