Gunpowder & Sky Closes UK Deal With Arrow Films On Sundance Stunner ‘Lords Of Chaos’

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Category: UK A&E, Lifestyle, Culture

Published on Saturday, 13 October 2018 22:16

Gunpowder & Sky, the global content studio, announced they have sold the UK rights to Grammy-Award winning Director Jonas Åkerlund's Lords of Chaos to Arrow Films, ahead of the film's UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival next week.

Åkerlund, who directed Madonna's "Ray of Light" video and "The Confessions Tour" as well as Paul McCartney's "Live Kisses" and Spun, directed and wrote the screenplay which is based on the biography of the same name by Michael Moynihan and DidrikSøderlind. The film stars Rory Culkin, Emory Cohen, Jack Kilmer and Sky Ferreira, alongside Valter Skarsgård and Jon Øigarden.

Lords of Chaos tells the true story of True Norwegian Black Metal and its most notorious practitioners - a group of young men with a flair for publicity, church-burning and murder: MAYHEM. The film made its world premiere to critical acclaim earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, and has since continued to build momentum with turns at Fantastic Fest, Beyond Fest and more.

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Director of Content & Distribution Francesco Simeoni commented: "We were knocked out by this raw and powerful film which we cannot wait to bring to audiences in the UK. With its deft handling of the true events and the fabrications required to adapt a work into another medium Jonas Åkerlund has created something that will please both fans and newbies and we look forward to converting the masses to Norwegian Black Metal!"

Added David Betesh, Global Sales Manager at Gunpowder & Sky, "We have been delighted to see the wildly enthusiastic response to the film from global buyers. And, we couldn't be happier that, in the UK market, LORDS OF CHAOS is going to be championed by the great team at Arrow."

Gunpowder & Sky is handling worldwide rights to the film and will be releasing in the US in Q1 of 2019. Lords of Chaos was produced by Twentieth Century Fox, VICE Films' Danny Gabai and Jim Czarnecki, Insurgent Media's Erik Gordon, and Kwesi Dickson, Jack Arbuthnott of Scott Free Productions and Ko Mori of Eleven Arts Production.

This news comes on the heels of Gunpowder & Sky's announcement that they have acquired Alex Ross Perry's (Listen Up Philip, Queen of Earth) Her Smell, the punk rock epic chronicling the reckless fall and vigilant rise of a '90s riot girl depicted by Emmy-Award winning actress Elisabeth Moss ("The Handmaid's Tale", "Mad Men"), and the summer theatrical release of Hearts Beat Loud, a touching ode to the powers of music which took home its debut weekend's #1 PSA.

Quickly becoming the go-to studio for music-related releases, Gunpowder & Sky is also responsible for Sounds Like Home, an inspirational documentary that reminds audiences of the power in music's ability to transcend languages and borders which debuted on Sky Arts, and four seasons to-date of Drawn & Recorded: Modern Myths of Music, the company's original animated series with Oscar and Grammy-winning producer T Bone Burnett, acclaimed animator Drew Christie and music television producer Bill Flanagan ("Storytellers", "Crossroads").

ABOUT GUNPOWDER & SKY

Gunpowder & Sky is an award-winning independent global studio, dedicated to creating, marketing and distributing video content unrestricted by form, genre or platform. Gunpowder & Sky collaborates with both emerging and established talent to generate premium video content ranging from 90-second to 90-minute stories on all platforms. With in-house development, production, marketing and distribution capabilities, the company operates as a full 360-studio and oversees a library of over 1500 titles.

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In 2017, Gunpowder & Sky released numerous films and series, including The Little Hours, starring Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, Jemima Kirke and Nick Offerman, which premiered to sold-out audiences in NY and LA, and nabbed the highest per screen average for its opening weekend. Gunpowder & Sky was also responsible for the Herbalife exposé documentary, Betting on Zero, which debuted as the number one documentary in the iTunes store; Ben Young's Hounds of Love, which won the Overlook Film Festival's Jury and Audience Awards for Best Feature; and Spotify's most viewed series, Drawn & Recorded. In partnership with HBO and Blumhouse Productions, Gunpowder & Sky also released two horror films, Totem and Like, Share, Follow. Separately, the company also launched DUST, the first premium, digitally-distributed sci-fi brand showcasing thought-provoking visions of the future from both established and emerging filmmakers.

Most recently, during the 2018 Sundance Film Festival the company acquired the North American rights to Brett Haley's (I'll See You In My Dreams, The Hero) Hearts Beat Loud, a touching ode to the bonding powers of music, and premiered Summer of '84, the latest thriller from award-winning directors RKSS. Simultaneously, Trevor Stevens' directorial debut, Rock Steady Row also premiered and won narrative feature jury and audience awards at the Slamdance Film Festival.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in NY and London, Gunpowder & Sky was founded by Van Toffler and Floris Bauer, in partnership with The Chernin Group and AT&T.

About Arrow Films:

Arrow Films is a leading independent all-rights entertainments company, established in 1991, operating in the UK, Republic of Ireland, U.S.A and Canada. Arrow Films is firmly dedicated to new cinema, developing an enviable theatrical slate of critically acclaimed films which will additionally enjoy a lasting lifespan across all of our ancillary channels, brands and labels, including Arrow Video and Arrow Academy. 

Recent acquisitions include Climax, The Endless, Blade of the Immortal, Ismael's Ghosts, The Villainess, Aquarius, Clash and Hounds of Love. Additionally, Arrow Films is widely considered to be the global market leader in the Premium Home Entertainment market, fueled by state of the art in-house film restoration and highly sought-after Blu-ray editions of classic and cult cinema.www.arrowfilms.com