LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following a critically praised premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Cinedigm (NASDAQ: CIDM) has acquired all U.S. distribution rights to Anton Corbijn’s LIFE, starring Dane DeHaan (Life After Beth; Kill Your Darlings; Place Beyond The Pines), Robert Pattinson (Twilight, Cosmopolis, Maps To The Stars), and Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Sexy Beast, Schindler’s List ). The film was produced by Iain Canning’s See-Saw Films (The King’s Speech, Slow West), and is the second project in an ongoing collaboration between Corbijn and Canning, following their work together on Control. The script was written by Luke Davies (Candy, Lion).
Corbijn’s follow-up to A Most Wanted Man, LIFE captures the nuances and complexities of the relationship between photographer and subject in a way rarely seen or understood by someone outside the business. In a nod to Corbijn’s own past experience, the film is told from the perspective of the Life photographer Dennis Stock (played by Pattinson) who meets and profiles Dean (DeHaan) for the magazine, turning out some of Dean’s most iconic photographs.
LIFE will open with a theatrical, digital and television VOD release beginning in Fall 2015.
"Life gorgeously chronicles the back story behind the 1955 photo spread that brought moody young heartthrob James Dean to the attention of the American public seven months before his death,” said Yolanda Macias, Cinedigm’s Executive Vice President of Acquisitions. “Beautiful to look at, powerful to experience, Life, using an Eisenhower-era America as prism, brilliantly presages America's coming celebrity culture."
The deal was negotiated by CAA and WME Global with Cinedigm's Kristin Harris, Executive Director of Content Acquisitions.
About See-Saw Films
Academy Award®-winning producers Emile Sherman and Iain Canning founded SEE-SAW FILMS, a UK and Australian company specializing in international Film and Television, in 2008. SEE-SAW's production of MACBETH, directed by Justin Kurzel and starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, premiered in Official Competition at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. SLOW WEST, directed by John Maclean and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Michael Fassbender, won the World Cinema Dramatic Competition Jury prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival and opened last month. SEE-SAW has just completed principal photography on LION, starring Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel, and directed by Garth Davis.
Other productions include the multi-Academy Award®-winning THE KING’S SPEECH, directed by Tom Hooper, and starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter; Steve McQueen’s award-winning SHAME, starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, and TRACKS, directed by John Curran and starring Mia Wasikowska, which premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival last year. SEE-SAW’s first television miniseries, Jane Campion’s TOP OF THE LAKE, starring Elisabeth Moss and Holly Hunter, was nominated for eight Emmys two Golden Globe Awards.
About Cinedigm:
Cinedigm is a leading independent content distributor in the United States, with direct relationships with thousands of physical retail storefronts and digital platforms, including Wal-Mart, Target, iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon, as well as the national Video on Demand platform on cable television. The company’s library of films and TV episodes encompasses award-winning documentaries from Docurama Films®, next-gen Indies from Flatiron Film Company®, acclaimed independent films and festival picks through partnerships with the Sundance Institute and Tribeca Films and a wide range of content from brand name suppliers, including National Geographic, Discovery, Scholastic, NFL, Shout Factory, Hallmark, Jim Henson and more.
Additionally, given Cinedigm’s infrastructure, technology, content and distribution expertise, the Company has rapidly become a leader in the quickly evolving over-the-top digital network business. Cinedigm’s first channel, DOCURAMA, launched in May 2014, and is currently available on iOS, Roku, Xbox and Samsung, with additional platforms currently being rolled out. Cinedigm launched CONtv, a Comic Con branded channel in partnership with WIZARD WORLD, on March 3, 2015. The Company’s third OTT channel, DOVE ENTERTAINMENT CHANNEL, will be a digital streaming subscription service targeted to families and kids seeking high quality and family friendly content approved by Dove Foundation. Adding to Cinedigm’s diversified portfolio of digital networks, in early 2015 the Company announced an OTT partnership with TV4 Entertainment and the planned launch of the BRIGHT edu-tainment OTT channel.
Cinedigm™ and Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp™ are trademarks of Cinedigm Corp. www.cinedigm.com. [CIDM-G]