Samuel Maoz’s debut film “Lebanon” already won the Golden Lion in Venice and was probably on track to be a foreign language film contender before Sony Classics stepped up to the plate. Now the trajectory seems all the more refined, and at the end of the day, SPC could wind up with three films in the mix (along with “A Prophet” and maybe “The White Ribbon”).
The press release, in part:
Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all US rights to the Israeli film, LEBANON from Celluloid Dreams. The film is written and directed by Samuel Maoz, a co-production between Metro Communications and Ariel Films and produced by David Silber, Ilann Gerard and Benjamina Mirnik. This is Maoz’s first feature film.
LEBANON joins the classic body of films and the growing collection of recent Israeli films in which filmmakers look at experiences of young people at war and try to make sense of it. Set almost entirely inside an Israeli tank, four young men set out on a mission in what turns out to be a trip filled with fear, anxiety and ultimately death and the revelation of what makes life worth living. Recently included in the recent Toronto Film Festival where the film played to great acclaim, LEBANON will also be included in the prestigious New York Film Festival.
“LEBANON is of those important films that will last forever in the marketplace. We are honored to be bringing LEBANON to the American public,” said Sony Pictures Classics.
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One response to “Sony Classics nabs ‘Lebanon’”
Very excited to hear about both The Prophet and Lebanon to foreign flicks I’m very interested in seeing getting distrib.
Can all three of SPC’s foreign entries get Oscar nod’s? The White Ribbon with Haneke might polarize a section of voters, I think Lebanon would be their best shot.