New York, NY May 31, 2012 – Sundance Selects announced today that the company is acquiring North American rights to Lucy Mulloy’s UNA NOCHE. The film, with a screenplay by Mulloy, stars Dariel Arrechaga, Anailin de la Rua de la Torre and Javier Nuñez Florian. Mulloy, Daniel Mulloy, Maite Artieda, Sandy Perez and Yunior Santiago served as producers. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival and had its North American premiere in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it won three awards — “Best New Narrative Director Award,” “Best Cinematography in a Narrative Feature Film Award,” and the “Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film Award” for Dariel Arrechada and Javier Nuñez Florian.
Mulloy’s passionate and fearless film follows a day in the lives of two Cuban teens Raul and Elio. Faced with the stark contrast between the tourists’ lives and their own struggle with poverty, they dream of Miami, just 90 miles across the ocean. When Raul is accused of assaulting a foreigner, he has no choice but to flee, but Elio must decide whether his desire for a better life and helping Raul are worth leaving Lila, his beloved twin sister.
Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects/IFC Films said: "UNA NOCHE is a remarkable first film that vividly takes us into the lives of 3 teenagers living in Havana looking for a better life. Lucy Mulloy is a major director to watch and has created a film that is both vibrant and sexy but also powerful. We look forward to working with her and her remarkable cast on the release of this film."
Mulloy said: “We’re thrilled to have found such a great home for UNA NOCHE with Sundance Selects. It’s been an incredible journey with many amazing people from Havana to New York having invested so much energy, dedication and love into creating this movie. We are honored and thankful to work with such a respected company as Sundance Selects and are very excited that UNA NOCHE will now be brought to its audience."
The deal for UNA NOCHE was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Productions for Sundance Selects/IFC Films, with the UTAIndependent Film Group and XYZ Films on behalf of the producers. International sales of the film are being handled by Fortissimo Films.
IFC Films and Sundance Selects are sister labels, owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc.
About SUNDANCE SELECTS
Established in 2009 and based in New York City, Sundance Selects is a leading U.S. distributor of prestige films focusing on American independents, documentaries and world cinema. In 2011, the label distributed the year’s 3 highest independently released documentaries including Werner Herzog’s CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (also the highest grossing film of his career), Cindy Meehl’s BUCK and Wim Wenders’ Academy Award® nominated PINA. The company also released the Dardennes Brothers THE KID WITH A BIKE which won the Grand Prix at Cannes and Abbas Kiarastami’s CERTIFIED COPY for which Juliette Binoche won the Best Actress at Cannes. Upcoming releases include: Maiwenn’s POLISSE which won the Jury Prize in Cannes, David France’s HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE, Adam Leon’s SXSW winner GIMME THE LOOT, Julia Loktev’s AFI winner THE LONELIEST PLANET, Alison Klayman’s Sundance Jury Prize winner AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY; Olivier Assayas’ SOMETHING IN THE AIR and Walter Salles’ Cannes competition film ON THE ROAD starring Kristen Stewart, Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund (which will be released jointly with IFC Films). Sundance Selects is a sister label to IFC Films and IFC Midnight, and is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc.