Pierre Földes’s festival buzz-maker animated feature Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman will finally get a stateside theatrical release next year. Zeitgeist Films, in association with Kino Lorber, has acquired U.S. rights from The Match Factory to the Haruki Murakami adaptation, which marks the feature directorial debut of direct composer Földes.
Produced by French studios Cinéma Defacto and Miyu Productions, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman uses a hybrid blend of live-referenced digital animation, 3D modeling and traditionally rendered backgrounds to adapt several short stories by bestselling Japanese author Murakami.
A lost cat, a voluble giant toad and a tsunami help an unambitious salesman, his frustrated wife and a schizophrenic accountant save Tokyo from an earthquake and find meaning in their lives.
The film was awarded the Jury Distinction for best feature at Annecy, and has also screened at international film festivals in Toronto, Busan and Rotterdam.
The deal was negotiated by Zeitgeist Co-Presidents Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo with Laura Nacher of The Match Factory, which handles international sales for the picture.
“We’d never seen a film quite like Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Russo and Gerstman told Deadline. “It is sure to appeal to the wide range of Murakami fans and hopefully anyone who wants to take a wild and imaginative ride into a world that seems oddly no stranger than our own.”
Produced by Cinéma Defacto (Tom Dercourt, Pierre Baussaron and Emmanual-Alain Raynal) and Miyu in cooperation with Studio MA (France), micro_scope (Canada), An Original Picture (Netherlands), Doghouse Films (Luxembourg), Production l’Unité Centrale (Canada), Arte France Cinéma and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman will kick off its U.S. run at New York City’s Film Forum in April, followed by a nationwide expansion.
[Source: Deadline]
