Outsider Pictures, With Strand Releasing, Acquires North American Rights To Boaz Yakin's "Aviva"
- Details
- Category: Entertainment News
- Published on Wednesday, 15 April 2020 15:07
- Written by Hildy Johnson
Outsider Pictures, with Strand Releasing, has acquired all North American rights on "Aviva," originally slated for SXSW 2020, written and directed by Boaz Yakin, whose debut feature, "Fresh," won the Filmmaker's trophy at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival.
He has since alternated between studio movies such as "Remember the Titans," starring Denzel Washington, "Uptown Girls," "Safe" and "Max," and personal independent movies such as "Death in Love," which premiered in Sundance in 2011.
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"Aviva," originally scheduled to debut in the Visions section of the 2020 SXSW, tells the story of transatlantic lovers Aviva and Eden, who, after meeting online, embark on a tumultuous courtship, love affair and marriage.
The couple struggles, separates, and tries to get back together, as dual aspects of each one's personality battle's forces inside and out. A romantic drama like no other, it tracks the evolution of a relationship driven by dance sequences (choreographed by co-star Bobbi Jene Smith), shifting desires, and a pair of principal characters played by four different actors — a man and a woman for each — giving external expression to their inner masculine and feminine sides.
"I wanted to make a film that told the story of the inner life experienced in a romantic relationship, using all the expressive means I have been exposed to in my life as a creative person: Film, theater, dance, music," said Boaz Yakin. "I was influenced by such filmmaking as diverse as Luis Bunuel and Bob Fosse, and set out to create something that expresses itself in dance and physical movement as well as traditional dramatic scenes."
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The film stars stars choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith, the subject of "Bobbi Jene," winner of Best Documentary, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, Zina Zinchenko ("7 Days In Entebbe," "A Tale of Love And Darkness") and Or Schraiber ("The Last Planet," "Mr Gaga"), formerly of the renowned Batsheva Dance Company, and introduces Tyler Phillips as Eden Man.
Says Paul Hudson, president of Outsider Pictures, "The film is a hypnotic blend of dance and surrealist interrogations of gender identity" that builds to a "swirling mystical ode to a marriage in crisis. It's a sexy, uniquely gender-fluid, dancing in the streets, sheets and bars impressionistic take on a movie romance."
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Outsider and Strand will partner with select cinemas to give "Aviva" a virtual theatrical release, kicking off in Los Angeles and New York in June 2020. They are committed to retaining a window of at least 90 days between virtual theatrical release and electronic sell-through/transactional video on demand, and will provide a home video release later in the year or early 2021 when it's safer to create and distribute a disc.
The North America distribution deal was struck between Paul Hudson, president of Outsider Pictures, and "Aviva's" world sales agent Miguel Govea, along with Brett Walker, at "Aviva" co-producer Alief.
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About Outsider Pictures
Outsider Pictures is dedicated to realizing the visions of independent filmmakers without compromise and committed to bringing moviegoers the most original stories from around the world. Paul Hudson is Outsider Pictures founder and the company's CEO since 2005.
