Wellspring Mediahas acquired US rights to two new foreign-language pictures: BahmanGhobadi's award-wining Marooned In Iraq and Ma Vraie Vie A Rouen directed by Olivier Ducastel and JacquesMartineau. The company will release both films theatrically prior to a homevideo roll-out on the Wellspring label, with Marooned In Iraq set for release on Apr 4 and Ma VraieVie A Rouen slated forthe summer.
Marooned In Iraq, Ghobadi's follow-up to the critically acclaimed ATime For Drunken Horses, is a roadmovie about an aging Kurdish musician in search of his lost love with his twosons in tow. The picture premiered at Cannes last year in Un Certain Regard andwon the Gold Plaque at the Chicago Film Festival last year. Iranian film scholar Professor Jamsheed Akrami brought thefilm to the attention of Wellspring acquisition executives Krysanne Katsoolisand Marie Therese Guirgis.
Ma Vraie Vie A Rouen premiered at Locarno last year and then playedToronto; it chronicles a year in the life of a teenage boy (Jimmy Tavares) ashe discovers his sexual identity. Wellspring released Ducastel and Martineau'sprevious title, The Adventures Of Felix. Strand Releasing had US rights to their first feature Jeanne AndThe Perfect Guy. The film also starsFrench celebrity Ariane Ascaride as the boy's mother. Ascaride is mostfamous as the muse of French director Robert Guediguian, having starred in all11 of his films, and she also starred in The Adventures Of Felix.
Katsoolis and Guirgis closed a deal for the film with salesagent Eric Lagesse of Flach Pyramide International at Toronto.
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