ChrisBlackwell's Palm Pictures has closed its second film acquisition of theToronto Film Festival, acquiring North American and UK rights to BaltasarKormakur's The Sea (Hafid)which broke box office records in its home country of Iceland last month. Palmplans to release the film theatrically in the US followed by a DVD rollout onthe Palm label.
Palm, whichenjoyed a specialized hit this year with Sex Y Lucia, also picked up Danny and OxidePang's The Eyeat Toronto from Fortissimo Film Sales. The deal for The Sea was negotiated by David Koh,Palm's head of acquisitions and co-productions, and Richard Brown, itsacquisitions executive, with Eric Lagesse, head of world sales for FlachPyramide International on behalf of the film-makers Kormakur and his Frenchproducer Jean-Francois Fonlupt.
"Weare very excited to work with Baltasar Kormakur, Jean-Francois Fonlupt, EricLagesse and Flach Pyramide and look forward to breaking both the filmmaker andthe film in the US and the UK," said Koh in a statement. "Our wholestaff loved the film in Toronto and we are privileged to work with one of theworld's greatdirectors. We were allbig fans of Baltasar's firstfilm 101 Reykjavik andthis film shows the range of his work."
TheSea is the story of a patriarch whosummons his family home to the fishing community he helped found and theensuing conflicts and resentments which emerge at the gathering. It starsGunnar Eyjolfsson, Hilmir Snaer Guonason and Helene de Fougerolles.
The Sea is the 15th domestic acquisition sealed out ofToronto after Autumn Spring(First Look), Cabin Fever (LionsGate), The Guys (Focus), Irreversible (Lions Gate), Jet Lag (Miramax), Lilya 4-ever (Newmarket), Novo (IFC Films), Open Hearts (Newmarket), Russian Ark (Wellspring), The Secret Lives Of Dentists (Manhattan), Spun (Newmarket), Together (UA), Unknown Pleasures (New Yorker) and Whale Rider (Newmarket).
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