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IFC FILMS ACQUIRES U.S. RIGHTS TO WERNER HERZOG’S CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS

Posted Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 - Comments Off on IFC FILMS ACQUIRES U.S. RIGHTS TO WERNER HERZOG’S CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS
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IFC FILMS ACQUIRES U.S. RIGHTS TO WERNER HERZOG’S CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS in 3-D
A Film Produced by Creative Differences for HISTORY Films in Association with More 4

Toronto, ON (September 15, 2010) – IFC Films, the leading American distributor of independent and foreign films, announced today it has acquired all U.S. rights, excluding television, to Werner Herzog’s extraordinary 3-D documentary CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS. The documentary grants audiences remarkable access into the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc cave in southern France, which holds the earliest known visions of mankind. Although access to the caves has been extremely limited due to concerns that overexposure could damage the invaluable drawings, Herzog was granted permission to film by using special lights that emit no heat.

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS is produced by Creative Differences in partnership with HISTORY Films and The French Ministry of Culture and Communication as a co-production with Arte France and in association with More 4. The documentary is produced by Erik Nelson and Adrienne Cuiffo with executive producers Dave Harding, David McKillop, Julian P. Hobbs, Molly Thompson, and Tabitha Jackson. Erik Nelson produced Herzog’s previous two feature documentaries GRIZZLY MAN and ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD.

Jonathan Sehring, President of IFC Films remarks, “We were completely blown away by this tour-de-force from Wener Herzog. This is what great 3-D technology was created for and we really couldn’t be more excited to work with History Films, the producers, and Werner to bring this awe inspiring film to American audiences.”

David McKillop, SVP, Development and Programming, HISTORY says, “The discovery of the caves and access to them is historic and Werner’s film is unprecedented. HISTORY Films is thrilled with the distribution and collaboration with IFC and proud to be at the crossroads of the past and the future to bring this masterpiece to a broad audience in spectacular 3-D.”

Producer Erik Nelson says, “We’re very excited to be working with IFC, given their commitment and experience in supporting groundbreaking films. It feels like a good home for us.”

The deal for CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS was negotiated by Arianna Bocco and Betsy Rodgers for IFC Films, and Josh Braun of Submarine Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers with Marc Simon of Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP providing legal services.

This is the second acquisition for IFC Films at this year’s festival, following James Gunn’s dark comedy SUPER starring Ellen Page and Rainn Wilson.

About IFC Films
Established a decade ago, IFC Films – a division of Rainbow Media’s IFC Entertainment – is the leading U.S. distributor of independent and foreign film. Its unique day and date distribution model makes independent films available to a national audience by releasing them simultaneously in theaters as well as on cable’s On Demand platform and through Pay-Per-View, reaching nearly 50 million homes. IFC Films’ “IFC Midnight” label, launched in 2010, offers the very best in international genre cinema, including horror, sci-fi, thrillers, erotic arthouse, action and more. Some of the company’s successes over the years have included MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, TOUCHING THE VOID, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, GOMORRAH, CHE, SUMMER HOURS, IN THE LOOP, ANTICHRIST, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, and WORDPLAY. IFC Films has worked with established and breakout auteurs including Steven Soderbergh, Gus Van Sant, Spike Lee, Richard Linklater, Miranda July, Lars Von Trier, Gaspar Noe, Todd Solondz, Cristian Mungiu, Susanne Bier, Olivier Assayas, Jim McKay, Larry Fessenden, Gregg Araki, Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, as well as more recent breakouts such as Andrea Arnold, Mia Hansen Love, Corneliu Porombiou, Joe Swanberg, Barry Jenkins, Lena Dunham, Aaron Katz, Daryl Wein and Abdellatif Kechiche.

About HISTORY Films
HISTORY Filmsä is the feature documentary production arm of HISTORYâ and seeks to bring cinematic stories by outstanding independent filmmakers to the widest possible audience. HISTORY Films seeks dramatic non-fiction films about extraordinary people and those singular moments in our past, present and future that stand out forever, demonstrating that History is Made Every Day. The HISTORY Films roster currently includes: Countdown to Zero (2010) (with Magnolia and Participant) and Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) (produced with Creative Differences and C4). Visit HISTORY at www.History.com.

About Creative Differences
Creative Differences is a Los Angeles and Vancouver based production company. Over the past fifteen years, Creative Differences has produced a wide range of programming for an even wider range of television networks, including: HISTORY, A&E, Animal Planet, Discovery, National Geographic, Fox, CBS, MTV and PBS. The company has produced notable series such as “Unsolved History,” “Time Warp,” “Blood Dolphins” and “Megadisasters” as well as the feature documentaries Grizzly Man and the Academy Awardâ-nominated Encounters at the End of the World.

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