Yahoo Lifestyle Metrograph Pictures Buys Venice Prizewinner, Fall Festival Standout ‘April’ for North America (EXCLUSIVE)
Metrograph Pictures has acquired North American rights for Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Venice Special Jury prizewinner “April.”
The festival standout earned unanimous critical praise upon world premiering at Venice with Variety describing it as a “radical, shattering exploration of women’s lives, rights and bodies in peril.” The film, which received a prize from a Venice jury presided over by Isabelle Huppert, went on to play at Toronto and San Sebastian where it also nabbed an award. It will next screen at the New York Film Festival as part of its main slate. Metrograph Pictures will release the film in theaters next year.
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“April” follows Nina, a skilled obstetrician at a maternity hospital in Eastern Georgia. “After a difficult delivery, an infant dies and the grief-stricken father demands an inquiry into her methods. The resulting scrutiny threatens to bring to light Nina’s secret side job—driving through the stunningly beautiful countryside to the village homes of pregnant girls and women to provide unsanctioned abortions—and to destroy the work that is the only source of meaning in her life,” reads the synopsis.
“April” marks Kulumbegashvili’s follow up to her 2020 debut feature, “Beginning” which had been selected for Cannes, as well as San Sebastian Film Festival where it took home a whooping four awards for best film, director, screenplay and actress for Ia Sukhitashvili.
The sophomore outing reunites Kulumbegashvili with the stars and key crew of “Beginning,” including Sukhitashvili, and Kakha Kintsurashvili, as well as cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan (“Bones and All”).
Kulumbegashvili said, “‘April’ is my humble tribute to Georgia, perhaps showing a world full of pain but also of tremendous beauty.”
“Traveling from one village to another, witnessing the lives of women in shadows of the village houses, hearing up the faint voices of those who felt trapped into their own fates… ‘April’ grew into a testimony of overwhelming, unbearable empathy and shuttering feeling of helplessness. Perhaps in places, ‘April’ manifests itself as a feverish dream entranced with anxiety and anger but nevertheless it is an expression of love to the place where I come from and that I’ll always carry with me,” Kulumbegashvili continued.
The helmer added that Metrograph cinema has “brought many of (her) favorite films to New York City and have proved to be champions of art house films.”
David Laub, head of Metrograph Pictures, meanwhile, said “‘April’ is a bold, brilliant, completely original piece of cinema unlike anything we have ever seen.”
“While dealing with tremendously important and relevant modern issues, it transcends easy categorization and instead proves to be one the most unique and thrillingly unclassifiable films ever made,” said the executive, who praised the filmmaker as an “amazing, one-of-a-kind artist. “We could not be more excited to support her work and present this film in a way that will resonate with wider audiences hungry for fresh and distinctive movies. It’s a masterpiece for a new generation.”
“April” was produced by Frenesy Film, First Picture, Memo Films, and Independent Film Project. Producers are Luca Guadagnino, Ilan Amouyal, David Zerat, Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Archil Gelovani, Gabriele Moratti and Alexandra Rossi. Executive producers include Steven Darty, Adrien Dassault, Christian Vesper, Giovanni Corrado, Raffaella Viscardi, Moreno Zani, Malcom Pagani, Marco Colombo and Federico Marchetti, with Sergei Yahontov co-producing alongside associate producers Livio Strazzera and Jan Pastori.
The deal was negotiated by Eva Diederix at Goodfellas on behalf of the filmmakers.
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