By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Annapurna Production Deal To Pastel, Barry Jenkins And Adele Romanski’s Co

Posted Tuesday, May 16th, 2017 - Comments Off on Annapurna Production Deal To Pastel, Barry Jenkins And Adele Romanski’s Co
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BARRY JENKINS AND ADELE ROMANSKI’S PASTEL JOINS ANNAPURNA WITH NEW PRODUCTION DEAL

Los Angeles, CA (May 16, 2017) – Annapurna has partnered with PASTEL, the Academy Award®-winning production company behind MOONLIGHT. The two-year film production deal includes a feature project to be directed by Barry Jenkins in development at PASTEL, as well as future films from PASTEL partners Jenkins, Adele Romanski, Sara Murphy and Mark Ceryak.

The creative alliance comes in the wake of the Best Picture win for PASTEL’s first film MOONLIGHT, written and directed by Jenkins and produced by Romanski and Plan B

Jenkins, fresh off his win for Best Adapted Screenplay, is writing a script which will serve as the first project under the deal, details of which are being kept under wraps. The company, as a whole, will also focus their development initiatives on supporting and producing projects from exceptional and emerging filmmakers.

“When looking for a place to further the mandate we established with Moonlight, Annapurna felt like the perfect home for PASTEL. The breadth of stories that Megan and her team have championed since the company’s inception is inspiring. As film fans, when we see the Annapurna logo on a film we know we’re in good hands. It’s exciting to know that the work of the filmmakers we support through PASTEL will have a home in those same good hands,” said the PASTEL partners.

Annapurna added, “We are so excited to begin this partnership with PASTEL. We deeply admire the work done in MOONLIGHT and couldn’t feel more aligned and impressed with PASTEL’s vision for their company. We look forward to teaming up together and continuing to put filmmakers with fresh perspectives and bold voices out into the world.”

PASTEL was launched with a focus on developing and producing original, creative, and distinctive projects for both Jenkins and other new, singular filmmaking voices. With the pact, PASTEL also joins their MOONLIGHT collaborators Plan B at Annapurna.

Jenkins is repped by CAA and Silent R Management. Deal was negotiated on behalf of PASTEL by James Feldman and Andre Des Rochers and by Don Hardison on behalf of Annapurna.

ABOUT PASTEL

PASTEL’s mission: We love storytellers and have founded PASTEL as a home that empowers artists to create provocative, boundary-pushing work in film, television and beyond. In addition to developing in-house for Jenkins, the company will focus on supporting diverse projects, unique filmmakers, and new voices that further the mandate of integrity, urgency and specificity set forth by MOONLIGHT.

ABOUT ANNAPURNA

Annapurna, founded by Megan Ellison, focuses on creating sophisticated, high-quality content that is critically and commercially conscious while still appealing to a diverse audience. By upholding Ellison’s vision to put filmmakers and artists first and preserve their authentic creative voices no matter the genre or medium, in 5 years, the company has garnered a total of 32 Academy Award nominations for their projects, including ZERO DARK THIRTY, JOY, THE MASTER, FOXCATCHER, and THE GRANDMASTER. Ellison is also one of only four honorees ever to receive two Best Picture nominations in the same year, with HER and AMERICAN HUSTLE, both earning nods in 2014. Currently, Annapurna is in post-production on Kathryn Bigelow’s DETROIT, which it will release as its first distribution title on August 4, 2017. The company is also in production on Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled new period film starring Daniel Day-Lewis and is developing the film adaptation of Maria Semple’s WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE, to be directed by Richard Linklater.  Annapurna’s most recent projects include Mike Mills’ 20TH CENTURY WOMEN, which was nominated for two Golden Globes and earned Mills a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination, as well as SAUSAGE PARTY, WIENER-DOG, and EVERYBODY WANTS SOME, with THE BAD BATCH set for release by Neon in 2017. Bigelow also directed and partnered with Annapurna on the animated short LAST DAYS, about illegal elephant poaching and the ivory trade.

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