Theatrical and Movies-On-Demand Release Set for May 2009
Additional Foreign Territory Sales Also Announced
New York (NY) – February 13, 2009 – IFC Films, one of the leading American distributors for independent and foreign films, announced today it has acquired U.S. distribution rights to PONTYPOOL, a Canadian zombie horror-thriller about a small town that becomes infected by a deadly virus. Directed by Bruce McDonald, the filmmaker behind contemporary the cult classics HARD CORE LOGO and THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS, PONTYPOOL stars Stephen McHattie, the renowned actor who will also be seen in the upcoming films THE WATCHMEN and 2012. PONTYPOOL also stars Lisa Houle, Hrant Alianak and Georgina Reilly. Tony Burgess wrote the screenplay which he adapted from his own best-selling book, PONTYPOOL CHANGES EVERYTHING. PONTYPOOL, an official selection of the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, will have its U.S. premiere at SXSW in March. The film will also have its New York City premiere in late March as part of the Museum of Modern Art’s Canadian Front 2009, the annual showcase of the best in Canadian cinema. The deal was negotiated by Jeff Deutchman from IFC with PONTYPOOL producers Jeffrey Coghlan, Miles Dale and Ambrose Roche.
IFC Films will be releasing the film theatrically in New York and Los Angeles on May 29th, followed by a rollout in select cities across the country. Beginning May 27th, the film will also be available in more than 50,000,000 homes nationwide via movies-on-demand. Maple Pictures will release PONTYPOOL theatrically in Canada this spring.
In addition to the U.S. deal, Forward Motion Entertainment, the international sales agent on behalf of PONTYPOOL, announced the sale of the film to various foreign territories including: The U.K. (Kaleidoscope); South Korea (Mirovision); the Middle East (Eagle/Phonenicia Pictures); Hungary (Cinetel) and Malaysia (VSG). All of these deals include theatrical release commitments and were negotiated last week at the 2009 Berlinale. Several other key territory deals are expected to be announced shortly.
PONTYPOOL tells the story of shock-jock radio D.J. Grant Mazzy. Mazzy has, once again, been kicked off the Big City airwaves and now the only job he can get is the early morning show at CLSY Radio in the small town of Pontypool which broadcasts from the basement of the small town’s only church. What begins as another boring day of school bus cancellations due to yet another massive snow storm quickly becomes deadly. Bizarre reports start piling in of people developing strange speech patterns and committing horrendous acts of violence. But there’s nothing coming in on the news wires. So…is this really happening? Before long, Grant and the small staff at CLSY find themselves trapped in the radio station as they discover that this insane behavior taking over the town is caused by a deadly virus that may be spreading as a direct result of their radio transmissions… Now they must shut up or die.
Jonathan Sehring, President of IFC Entertainment said, "PONTYPOOL is a thought-provoking and suspenseful film with superb direction by Bruce McDonald and great performances by Stephen McHattie and the rest of the cast. It’s a fun genre-bending film destined to become a cult classic."
PONTYPOOL producer Miles Dale said, "We’re all very excited to have IFC Films taking this picture out. They have a great pipeline, and have proven themselves to be very adept at finding audiences for boldly original films like PONTYPOOL. They are the perfect partner to take an auteur filmmaker like Bruce to the next level with what is unquestionably his most commercial film to date."
About IFC Entertainment
A leader in the independent film industry, IFC Entertainment consists of multiple brands that are devoted to bringing the best of specialty films to the largest possible audience: IFC Films, IFC Productions, and the IFC Center. Through an innovative day-and-date distribution model, IFC Entertainment makes films available to a national audience through theatrical release by its renowned film division, while IFC In Theaters, an on demand service, simultaneously releases these titles to cable and satellite viewers. IFC Festival Direct features a wide selection of titles acquired from major international film festivals and offers them exclusively through on-demand and digital platforms. IFC Productions is a feature film production company that provides financing for select independent film projects. IFC Center is a three screen, state[-of-the-art cinema with luxurious seating and HD digital and 35mm projection that s]hows art-house films in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village. IFC Entertainment’s companies are subsidiaries of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC.