XYZ Films sells numerous international territories for acclaimed Critic’s Week Premiere
LOS ANGELES (July 02, 2019) – Saban Films has acquired all domestic rights to VIVARIUM, a science-fiction thriller directed by Lorcan Finnegan and starring Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg, which premiered to rave reviews in the Critic’s Week section at the Cannes Film Festival. Fantastic Films’ Brendan McCarthy and John McDonnell produced in association with Lovely Productions, in co-production with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Denmark’s Pingpong Film. XYZ executive produced and started handling global sales at Cannes.
VIVARIUM is the story of a young couple (Poots & Eisenberg) in search of a starter home, who follow a mysterious estate agent and get trapped in a strange housing development.
“We are very impressed with Lorcan’s elevated genre piece, heightened with the strong-calibre performances of Imogen and Jesse,” said Bill Bromiley, President of Saban Films. “We are looking forward to our audiences seeing this original, smart and offbeat film.”
VIVARIUM received support from Screen Ireland, Wallimage, the Danish Film Institute, Copenhagen Film Fund and Eurimages, as well as the Creative Europe Media Programme of the European Union, Film4, and Frontières.
The deal was brokered by Saban Films’ Ness Saban, along with CAA Media Finance and XYZ Films on behalf of the filmmakers.
Additional territories sold by XYZ Films include CDC for Latin America, Falcon for Middle East, Monumental Pictures (UFD) for Ukraine, NonStop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Notorious for Italy, The Jokers Films for France, Umbrella for Australia/New Zealand, Vertigo Releasing for UK/Ireland, A Contracorriente for Spain, Lumix for Korea, Films4You for Portugal, Weirdwave for Greece, Parco for Japan, Russian World Vision for CIS, FOX Networks Group Asia Pacific for Pan Asia PTV/SVOD, Pioneer for Philippines, Shaw Renters for Singapore, MovieCloud for Taiwan and Mongrel Media in Canada.
Saban Films continues to grow its presence in the industry, remaining active in the acquisition, production and distribution space. The company’s successes have run the gamut from critically acclaimed theatrical films such as The Homesman starring Hilary Swank, to one of the biggest Fathom events in 2016 with Rob Zombie’s horror thriller 31. Its upcoming slate includes: Kevin Smith’s highly-anticipated Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, the sequel to the 2001 comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back which the company is partnering on after coming onboard at script stage; horror icon and heavy metal mastermind Rob Zombie’s 3 From Hell; the heartfelt baseball drama Bottom of the 9th starring Joe Manganiello and Sofía Vergara; Casey Affleck’s directorial debut Light of My Life; and Derrick Borte’s American Dreamer starring Jim Gaffigan.
####
About Saban Films:
Saban Films, an affiliate of Saban Capital Group (“SCG”), is a film acquisition and distribution company which acquires high-quality, feature films to distribute in North America. Focusing on commercial, talent driven films, the company looks at projects in all stages of production for release across multiple platforms, including a day and date theatrical/VOD release strategy. Based in Los Angeles, Saban Films was established by Haim Saban, SCG Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and is led by Bill Bromiley who serves as President, Shanan Becker, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and Ness Saban, Vice President of Business Development.
About XYZ Films:
XYZ Films is an integrated content company whose mission is to empower visionary storytellers from every corner of the planet. As an independent production company and worldwide sales agency, the company is uniquely suited to identify talented filmmakers and bring their stories to life. XYZ was founded in 2008 by Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer, and Aram Tertzakian. XYZ recently won the 2017 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Macon Blair’s I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE.
About Fantastic Films:
Fantastic Film is an Oscar-winning company dedicated to high quality unique films. Credits include Martin McDonagh’s Oscar-winning SIX SHOOTER; Ruairí Robinson’s THE LAST DAYS ON MARS Directors’ Fortnight Cannes starring Liev Schreiber; Corin Hardy’s Sundance hit THE HALLOW; Jaume Balagueró’s MUSE starring Franka Potente and Christopher Lloyd; Billy O’Brien’s SXSW hit I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER; Brian O’Malley’s Silver Méliès winner LET US PREY; Dennis Bartok’s NAILS and the critically acclaimed Hammer Horror WAKE WOOD starring Timothy Spall and Aidan Gillen.
About Frakas Productions:
Founded in 2007, Frakas Productions is a Belgian production company based in Liège, producing mainly feature films and is very active in international coproductions.
Frakas Productions and its young directors cast a critical and sharp glance at our society through powerful and ambitious subjects. It has produced films such as David Lambert’s ‘‘BEYOND THE WALLS’’, ‘‘ALL YOURS’’ & “THIRD MARRIAGE”, David Lambert’s last comedy, in cinemas on June 13th; Delphine Noels’s ‘‘POST PARTUM’’ or Marta Bergman’s “ALONE AT MY WEDDING”, selected at Cannes 71st International Film Festival in the “ACID” section.
International coproductions include films such as Katell Quillévéré’s ‘‘HEAL THE LIVING’’ (2016), Julia Ducournau’s ‘‘RAW’’ (2016), Jaume Balaguero’s MUSE (2017), Kyoshi Kurosawa’s « DAGUERROTYPE » (2017), Michaël R. Roskam’s “RACER AND THE JAILBIRD” (2017), Lukas Dhont’s “GIRL”, selected at Cannes 71st International Film Festival in the “Un Certain Regard” section.
Frakas is currently coproducing ‘‘A GOOD WOMAN IS HARD TO FIND’’, the latest film by Abner Pastoll (‘‘ROAD GAMES’’), Lorcan Finnegan’s “VIVARIUM”, Gavin Rothery’s “ARCHIVE”, Neasa Hardiman’s “SEA FEVER” and Visar Morina’s “EXIL”
Jean-Yves Roubin, its founder and manager, is also the co-president of UPFF – the Belgian Producers’ Guild (French speaking part).
About Pingpong Film:
Pingpong Film is run by Danish producer Alexander Brøndsted and Swedish co-producer, writer/director Antonio Tublén. Previous films are the award winning feature films Original and LFO. Later this year their Danish thriller Uro will be released and also their English debut, Zoo, starring Ed Speleers and Zoe Tapper.
About Screen Ireland:
Screen Ireland (formerly known as the Irish Film Board) is the national development agency for Irish filmmaking and the Irish film, television and animation industry, investing in talent, creativity and enterprise.
Screen Ireland’s mission is to support and promote Irish film, television and animation through fostering Irish artistic vision and our diverse creative and production talent, growing audiences, and attracting filmmakers and investment into the country.
Screen Ireland is committed to providing leadership, direction and advocacy for the Irish screen industries, as well as supporting writers, directors and production companies through investing in Irish filmmaking talent.
The agency delivers on its mission through generating inward investment by promoting Ireland as a film location as well as promoting Irish films to major international markets. Screen Ireland is also committed to supporting the distribution of feature films, bringing Irish film to wider audiences and engaging with European counterparts on mutually beneficial policy initiatives.
Major Irish and international titles to have received support from Screen Ireleand in recent years include Academy Award®-nominated films such as Nora Twomey’s The Breadwinner, John Crowley’s Brooklyn, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, and the Academy Award®-winning Room, helmed by Lenny Abrahamson. Other notable titles include John Carney’s Sing Street, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship alongside critically acclaimed domestic titles such as Frank Berry’s Michael Inside, Aoife McArdle’s Kissing Candice and Peter Foott’s The Young Offenders.
####
Media Contact:
Erik Bright
Jason Kasperski
Prodigy PR
310-857-2020
eb@prodigypublicrelations.com
jk@prodigypublicrelations.com