By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS TAKES A JOURNEY WITH JONATHAN DEMME AND NEIL YOUNG
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK (October 11, 2011) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired the Worldwide Rights, excluding Latin America, to Jonathan Demme’s film, NEIL YOUNG JOURNEYS from Shakey Pictures and Clinica Estetico. Demme and Elliot Rabinowitz produced the film, with Declan Quinn (RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, NEIL YOUNG TRUNK SHOW, JIMMY CARTER MAN FROM PLAINS) who served as director of photography. NEIL YOUNG JOURNEYS had its World Premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival to a tremendous audience and great critical acclaim.
NEIL YOUNG JOURNEYS marks the third film between Demme and Sony Pictures Classics. Previous films include JIMMY CARTER MAN FROM PLAINS and RACHEL GETTING MARRIED.
This past May, Neil Young drove a 1956 Crown Victoria from his idyllic hometown of Omemee, Ontario to downtown Toronto’s iconic Massey Hall, where he played the last two nights of his solo world tour. Filmmaker Jonathan Demme was on hand to capture the journey and both shows, highlighting new songs from the album Le Noise (2010), produced by Daniel Lanois, mixed with classics like “Ohio” and “I Believe in You” and previously unreleased songs “Leia” and “You Never Call.”
In NEIL YOUNG JOURNEYS, Young’s mesmerizing performances are presented in full, along with passages from the sometimes funny, sometimes wistful ride into town. Demme and Young previously collaborated on two other performance films, Neil Young Heart of Gold, which chronicled Young performing in Nashville, the year after he survived a brain aneurysm and Neil Young Trunk Show, which memorialized a Pennsylvania concert during Young’s “Chrome Dreams II” tour.
“I’m joyful about SPC becoming the distributor of NEIL YOUNG JOURNEYS. I had a blast working with them on RACHEL GETTING MARRIED recently so this is just a great homecoming for me,” states Director Jonathan Demme.
“With their latest collaboration, Neil Young and Jonathan Demme are a match made in movie heaven,” adds Sony Pictures Classics.
SPC negotiated the deal with Young’s longtime manager, Elliot Roberts.
Demme is represented by WME.
ABOUT SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
Michael Barker and Tom Bernard serve as co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics—an autonomous division of Sony Pictures Entertainment they founded with Marcie Bloom in January 1992, which distributes, produces, and acquires independent films from around the world.
Barker and Bernard have released prestigious films that have won 27 Academy Awards (23 of those at Sony Pictures Classics) and have garnered over 116 Academy Award nominations (93 at Sony Pictures Classics) including Best Picture nominations for AN EDUCATION, CAPOTE, HOWARDS END, AND CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.
ABOUT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services, and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in more than 100 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found at www.sonypictures.com.
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