EXCLUSIVE: Capelight Pictures has acquired all North American rights to Dutch director Muriel d’Ansembourg’s provocative English-language drama Truly Naked, set against the backdrop of the porn industry, from Berlin-based sales outfit m-appeal.
It is one of several all-rights deals closed on the film by m-appeal since Truly Naked premiered in the Berlinale Perspectives programme in February.
M-appeal has sealed further deals with Gluon Media (Latin America), Creative Century Entertainment Co (Taiwan) and PictureWorks (India).
Newcomer Caolán O’Gorman stars in the UK-set film about shy teenager Alec, whose father, played by Andrew Howard, runs a small-time porn business. With the business struggling, father and son relocate to a small seaside town. There, Alec meets a fiery young woman whose independent outlook challenges his notions about sexuality and relationships.
“Truly Naked may seem risqué at first glance, but it carries a strong message, exploring the zeitgeist topic of how a young man navigates his relationship with porn alongside a desire for genuine connection,” said Drew Goldblatt, SVP of acquisitions and international distribution at Capelight Pictures. “Because the movie is both explicit and delicate, we believe it will resonate with audiences.”
The Berlin-based company has been releasing in North America and the UK since 2019. Capelight has previously taken German, Austrian and Swiss rights to Truly Naked.
“We are confident the Latin American audience will appreciate the film’s gentle core and at the same time, be provoked and moved to reflection by its portrait of the challenges to innocence and intimacy in the internet age,” said Gluon Media CEO Luis Ignacio Perez Endara.
Aurora Lee, acquisitions executive at Creative Century in Taiwan, added: “[Truly Naked] is bold and uncompromising, not just in what it explores, but in how it tells the story.”
Truly Naked is a co-production between the Netherlands, Belgium and France via Dutch industry veteran Els Vandevorst of Brimstone and her daughter Isabella Depeweg of Isabella Films. The Belgian coproducers are Antonino Lombardo of Prime Time BVBA, with Tom Dercourt of Cinéma Defacto, with France’s Christophe Bruncher of Ici et Là Productions.
The cast also includes Safiya Benaddi and Alessa Savage. Adult movie star Savage earlier appeared in d’Ansembourg’s 2024 short, Fuck-a-Fan, which played in the Tribeca Festival.
Truly Naked will be released in the UK and Ireland by AX1 Films, which has previously handled titles including Four Letters Of Love,
“I want to make films that are as truthful as possible,” d’Ansembourg told Screen at NL Wave last autumn. “If I was to sugarcoat [the subject matter]t, or shy away from it, I wouldn’t be able to show the audience what this boy experiences. There are explicit elements in the film [but it] is about showing something very real, very raw, with tenderness.”
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