EXCLUSIVE: Cinema Guild has picked up U.S. rights to the Jacquelyn Mills-directed Berlin prize winner Geographies of Solitude with plans to open the documentary in theaters next year, beginning with a run at New York City’s Anthology Film Archives from January 25- 31.
An immersion into the rich ecosystem of Sable Island, a remote sliver of land in the Northwest Atlantic, the film follows Zoe Lucas, a naturalist and environmentalist who has lived there for over 40 years, collecting, cleaning and documenting marine litter that persistently washes up on the island’s shores.
The feature shot on 16mm and created using eco-friendly filmmaking techniques claimed the Caligari Film Award, as well as the C.I.C.A.E. Award and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury upon its world premiere in the Forum section of the 2022 Berlin Film Festival. It then went on to win Best Canadian Documentary and the Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award at Hot Docs before landing a nomination for Best Cinematography at the IDA Awards. Mills’ film has won a total of 19 international prizes to date, having now played at over 40 festivals worldwide.
“Geographies of Solitude is a labor of love that took over 4 years to create,” said Mills. “We never could have expected this kind of reception for a film made on a shoestring budget with a micro team. We are completely thrilled and honored to be collaborating with Cinema Guild.”
“We were swept away by Geographies of Solitude,” added Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. “Jacky brings us a marriage of character and setting unlike anything we’ve seen in contemporary nonfiction. We can’t wait to share it with U.S. audiences.”
Cinema Guild is a premier distributor of world cinema, independent films and documentaries, whose recent releases include Juan Pablo González’s Gotham Best Feature nominee Dos Estaciones, Ramon and Silvan Zürcher’s The Girl and the Spider and Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing. The company also recently acquired Rodrigo Reyes’ prize-winning documentary Sansón and Me and will next release titles including Hong Sangsoo’s Walk Up and Helena Wittmann’s Human Flowers of Flesh.
Cinema Guild’s deal for Geographies of Solitude was negotiated by Kelly and the film’s producers.
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