EXCLUSIVE: US filmmaker Patrick Wang’s one-man biopic A. Rimbaud, which had its international premiere at Ireland’s Galway Film Fleadh earlier this summer, has landed international deals including Bulldog Film Distribution for UK-Ireland.
The film profiles French poet Arthur Rimbaud, who is played by Blake Draper.
ED Distribution will release in France, and New York-based distributor Several Futures will launch wider distribution across the US, with the film having had regular screenings in New York at the Roxy Cinema since mid-May.
Producers are Daryl Freimark for New York-based Hardball Entertainment, Fritzi Adelman and Evan Johnson for Canada’s Thin Stuff Productions, alongside Wang.
The deals were done directly with the filmmakers.
Bulldog plans to mirror the approach taken to release in New York at the Roxy, with weekly screenings at London’s ICA followed by a wider roll-out. The film had its UK premiere at London’s inaugural The Final Film Festival earlier this week.
“Having released his catalogue in the UK previously, we were ecstatic to hear about A. Rimbaud and then blown away by the film itself, which is honestly one of the most unique pieces of cinema we’ve ever seen,” said Philip Hoile, Bulldog head of distribution and acquisitions.
“After speaking to Patrick about his New York release plans, we were excited to join him to also try something different within the UK and Ireland. The idea of slowing things down, focusing on the film, and attempting to give the work time to breathe rather than being caught up in the whirlwind churn of our current hectic fast-paced new release calendar really chimed with us.”
ED Distribution, which has released all of Wang’s work in France, confirmed the French release pattern will be similar.
“We plan to do something similar: to find a regular screening venue in Paris before a broader release throughout France, programming retrospectives along the way,” said ED Distribution co-founder Manuel Attali. “For over 10 years now, Patrick’s work has built up a strong base of many supporters in France, and we are confident they will be excited to see and spread the word.”
“Word of mouth has been kind to my movies, but natural word of mouth doesn’t work at the pace conventional film releases demand,” said Wang, whose previous credits include Cannes ACID 2015 premiere The Grief Of Others. “So I wanted to slow it down. And not aim at the whole world at once.”
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