By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

SUNDANCE SELECTS TAKES NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS TO CINDY MEEHL’S BUCK

Posted Monday, January 24th, 2011 - Comments Off on SUNDANCE SELECTS TAKES NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS TO CINDY MEEHL’S BUCK
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Park City, UT (January 24, 2011) – Sundance Selects announced today from the Sundance Film Festival that the company is acquiring North American rights to director Cindy Meehl’s BUCK. The film, which is playing in the U.S. Documentary Competition section at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival premiered on Friday, January 21.  The film centers around Buck Brannaman, a living legend in the horse world, and was produced by Julie Goldman.  Andrea Meditch served as a creative consultant on the film.

The Horse Whisperer may be the stuff of Hollywood legend but the cowboy who inspired the novel and film is very real. Buck Brannaman – master horseman, raconteur and philosopher – is a no excuses cowboy who travels the world teaching a hard-won wisdom that’s often more about human relationships than about horses. He possesses near magical abilities as he transforms horses – and people – with understanding and respect.

Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said: “Our entire company has fallen in love with BUCK. Cindy Meehl’s funny, deeply inspiring and crowd pleasing film about Buck Brannaman has ignited the passion of audiences in Park City and we’re confident the rest of the country will feel the same.  This is the perfect film for our new label Sundance Selects and we could not be more excited to help get it out to the widest possible audience.”

Filmmaker Cindy Meehl stated: “BUCK is about hope, inspiration and triumph over adversity. Sundance Selects is the perfect partner to help us reach a broad audience that has already shown that it is hungry for Buck’s message.”

The deal was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Productions for Sundance Selects/IFC Films and Betsy Rodgers, Vice President of Business and Legal Afffairs for Sundance Selects/IFC Films with Josh Braun at Submarine on behalf of the filmmakers.

About SUNDANCE SELECTS:

Established in 2009 and based in New York City, Sundance Selects is a leading U.S. distributor of prestige films that focuses on American independents, documentaries and world cinema.  Its unique distribution model makes independent prestige films available to a national audience by releasing them in theaters as well as on cable’s Video On Demand (VOD) platform, reaching nearly 50 million homes. Some of the company’s successes have included Spike Lee’s Passing Strange: The Movie and Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross’ The Shock Doctrine, a feature documentary based on Naomi Klein’s bestselling book of the same name.  Upcoming Sundance Selects releases include Gregg Araki’s sex-drenched comical thriller Kaboom, Joe Swanberg’s achingly true-to-life modern comedy Uncle Kent, Errol Morris’ highly acclaimed documentary Tabloid, Warner Herzog’s 3D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams and famed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy starring Juliette Binoche. Sundance Selects is a sister division to IFC Films and IFC Midnight, and is owned and operated by Rainbow Media.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

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~ David Simon