NEON Scores Rights: GUNDA, from Victor Kossakovsky & EP Joaquin Phoenix, Oscar Winner

Curated by Screenmancer Staff

NEW YORK, NY (2/25/20): NEON announced today that it has acquired North American rights to Gunda, directed by Victor Kossakovsky, which made its World Premiere in the new competitive section Encounters at the Berlinale, where it was nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Award and debuted to rave reviews. Critics have hailed the black and white film as “mesmerizing” and featuring “astounding beauty.” Sant & Usant produced Gunda, which is a co-production with Louverture Films. Anita Rehoff Larsen produced. Joslyn Barnes and Susan Rockefeller co-produced with Tone Grøttjord-Glenne and Joaquin Phoenix executive producing. 

Where his prior film, the acclaimed epic Aquarela, was a reminder of the fragility of human tenure on earth, in Gunda, master filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky reminds us that we share our planet with billions of other animals. Through encounters with a mother sow (the eponymous Gunda), two ingenious cows, and a scene-stealing, one-legged chicken,  movingly recalibrates our moral universe, reminding us of the inherent value of life and the mystery of all animal consciousness, including our own. Jeff Deutchman negotiated the deal for NEON along with UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers. Cinephil is handling international sales.

Why NEON Is Awesome?

 NEON most recently made history with four Academy Award® wins for Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature.

A little less than 3 years since inception, NEON has garnered 10 Oscar nominations and already grossed over $150M at the Box Office. It continues to push boundaries and take creative risks on bold cinema such as Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, which made history winning four Academy Awards®, becoming the first non-English-language film to claim Best Picture. The film, which also unanimously won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, has amassed over $48M at the domestic box office and broke multiple records including highest per screen average of the year and highest per screen average for a foreign language film of all time. Other noteworthy NEON releases include: Double Oscar nominee Honeyland; Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11, 2019’s highest grossing documentary with a worldwide gross of $16M; Tim Wardle’s Three Identical Strangers, winner of the Sundance Special Jury Award for Storytelling which surpassed $13M at the box office; and Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya, which garnered multiple Academy Award® nominations, one win for Allison Janney and amassed over $30M in domestic box office.

The company continues to be an impressive force at festivals, with recent Sundance acquisitions such as Max Barbakow’s sought after Palm Springs starring Andy Samberg, which NEON acquired with Hulu, and Josephine Decker’s Shirley starring Elisabeth Moss. Recent releases include: the critically acclaimed Cannes hit Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes® and Independent Spirit Awards; Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov’s award-winning and record-breaking Honeyland, which is the first non-fiction feature to land Academy Award® nominations for Best Documentary and Best International Feature Film in the same year; Alejandro Landes’ cinematic thriller Monos (the Colombian selection for the Academy Awards®); Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz‘s horror film The Lodge starring Riley Keough; Julius Onah’s Luce starring Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer; Tom Harper’s Wild Rose starring Jessie Buckley; John Chester’s The Biggest Little Farm; Chinonye Chukwu’s Clemency starring Academy Award® Nominee Alfre Woodard; and the electrifying documentary about Aretha Franklin, Amazing Grace. After their successful collaboration on I, Tonya in January 2018, 30WEST (Dan Friedkin’s and Micah Green’s strategic venture) partnered with NEON’s Tom Quinn (Founder & CEO) and Tim League (Co-Founder) to become majority investors in the company.

 Editor’s Note: Wait for it… “This acclaimed documentary made its world premiere at Berlinale, where it debuted to rave reviews,” that’s PR talking, but we think it is probably true, lolz. Joaquin likes animals.

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