PARAMOUNT CLASSICS ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO SUNDANCE WINNER BLOODY SUNDAY
HOLLYWOOD, January 30, 2002 -- In a multi-territorial deal, Paramount Classics has acquired the rights to the controversial and award-winning, BLOODY SUNDAY starring James Nesbitt (Waking Ned Devine) and Tim Pigott-Smith.
Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, Bloody Sunday is produced by Mark Redhead and executive produced by Pippa Cross, Arthur Lappin, Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father), Rod Stoneman, Paul Trijbits and Tristan Whalley. The Granada Film / Hell's Kitchen production was financed by Portman Film, Granada, the Film Council (the UK film funding body) and the Irish Film Board as a deliberate attempt to put together a British and Irish financing structure to mirror aspects of the current peace process in Northern Ireland.
Bloody Sunday depicts the events of January 30, 1972, when 27 civilians were shot by the British army during a peaceful civil rights march. The event fueled a 25-year cycle of violence between Britain and elements of Ireland, North and South.
The co-winner of the Sundance Film Festival Audience award in World Cinema, Bloody Sunday has just secured a prestigious spot in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival. Acceptance rules for the festival were bent in order to accommodate the film following the Sundance World Cinema screening.
"Bloody Sunday is a remarkable accomplishment. We are thrilled to be working with Paul, a filmmaker of tremendous courage and vision. We are confident that the accolades that have already begun to surround this profound film will only continue," commented Paramount Classics' Co-Presidents Ruth Vitale and David Dinerstein.
BAFTA award winning writer/director Paul Greengrass' credits include Resurrected along with significant work in television: Open Fire; the series Kavanagh QC, The One that Got Away, The Fix, The Theory of Flight and The Murder of Stephen Lawrence which received a Special Jury Prize at the Banff Television Festival.
Greengrass commented, "Making Bloody Sunday was such an important and rewarding experience. I am impressed and overjoyed that Paramount Classics will be bringing the film to the public. Their commitment to independent film coupled with their marketing expertise is very impressive."
Paramount Classics has acquired North American and international distribution rights for Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Latin America and Japan.
The film is currently scheduled for release in the United States this fall.
Whalley on behalf of the filmmakers along with Cassian Elwes and Rena Ronson of William Morris along with negotiated the deal with Paramount Classics.
Cross and Whalley commented, "We are thrilled to be working with Paramount Classics on Bloody Sunday as they clearly appreciate and embrace the unique qualities of the film, and as a company they have the skill and vision to find a significant audience within their territory."
Paramount Classics is the autonomous specialized division of Paramount Pictures. Recent films for Paramount Classics include the widely praised and official Colombian selection for Best Foreign Language Film, Our Lady of the Assassins from director Barbet Schroeder; Neal Slavin's Focus, starring William H. Macy, Laura Dern, Michael Lee Aday and David Paymer, based on the controversial Arthur Miller novel of the same name; Eva Gardos' An American Rhapsody starring Nastassja Kinski, Tony Goldwyn and Scarlett Johansson and the romantic comedy Sidewalks of New York from writer-director Edward Burns, starring Burns, Heather Graham, Stanley Tucci and Dennis Farina.
Paramount Classics other recent acquisitions include Henry Jaglom's romantic comedy Festival in Cannes starring Anouk Aimee, Maxmillian Schell and Ron Silver; Triumph of Love, directed by Clare Peploe, produced by Bernardo Bertolucci and starring Ben Kingsley and Mira Sorvino; The Reckoning starring Willem Dafoe and Paul Bettany; and the romantic comedy of errors The Emperor's New Clothes starring Ian Holm in a double role.
