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SUNDANCE SELECTS GRABS JEAN-PIERRE AND LUC DARDENNE’S THE KID WITH A BIKE

Posted Thursday, May 19th, 2011 - Comments Off on SUNDANCE SELECTS GRABS JEAN-PIERRE AND LUC DARDENNE’S THE KID WITH A BIKE
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Cannes, FRANCE (May 19, 2011) – Sundance Selects announced today from the 2011 Cannes Film Festival that the company is acquiring all U.S. rights to master filmmakers’ Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s THE KID WITH A BIKE from Wild Bunch.  The film made its world premiere in Competition at this week’s festival.  The Dardenne’s have won an award for every film they have ever shown in Cannes, which includes two prior Palme d’Or prizes.

The film tells the story of an 11-year old boy named Cyril (Thomas Doret) who clings to a woman named Samantha (Cecile de France), a local hairdresser, after his father abandons him. As Cyril begins a path of self-destruction, THE KID WITH A BIKE becomes both a tender and at times violent exploration of a child’s quest for love.

Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects, said: “We are honored and thrilled to be able to present THE KID WITH A BIKE to American audiences.  We believe the Dardenne’s are among the best filmmakers working today and that this film is one of the high points of a peerless career.  We are thrilled to be in business with our friends at Wild Bunch on this film.”

The deal for the film was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Productions, and Betsy Rodgers, Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for Sundance Selects with Wild Bunch on behalf of the filmmakers.

Sundance Selects has also picked up several other titles at this week’s festival including U.S. rights to Julia Leigh’s SLEEPING BEAUTY; all North American rights to writer/director Bertrand Bonello’s HOUSE OF TOLERANCE; and a pre-buy of all U.S. rights to writer/director Mia Hansen Love’s GOODBYE FIRST LOVE.

Sundance Selects is a sister division to IFC Films and IFC Midnight, and is owned and operated by Rainbow Media.

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About SUNDANCE SELECTS:

Established in 2009 and based in New York City, Sundance Selects is a leading U.S. distributor of prestige films focusing 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 include Spike Lee’s PASSING STRANGE: THE MOVIE, Gregg Araki’s KABOOM, Aaron Katz’s COLD WEATHER, famed Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami’s CERTIFIED COPY, and Werner Herzog’s 3D documentary CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS.  Upcoming Sundance Selects releases include master director Errol Morris’ documentary TABLOID and the 2011 Sundance Audience Award winner BUCK, directed by Cindy Meehl. 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