PARK CITY, UTAH (January 28, 2015) – Sundance Selects announced today from the 2015 Sundance Film Festival that the company is acquiring North American rights to Laura Gabbert’s CITY OF GOLD. The film was produced by Gabbert and Holly Becker, and executive produced by Braxton Pope and Jamie Wolf. The film made its world premiere in the U.S. Documentary Competition section at the festival this week.
The festival program describes the film as “a richly penetrating documentary odyssey” saying “Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold shows us another Los Angeles, where ethnic cooking is a kaleidoscopic portal to the mysteries of an unwieldy city and the soul of America. Bombing through colorful neighborhoods in his green pickup truck, Gold is sniffing out his next strip-mall discovery—whether Oaxacan grasshopper soup, hand-cut tonkotsu ramen, or a particularly unctuous pad see ew. As piping-hot platters are served up, so are stories of immigrants whose secret family recipes are like sacred offerings pledged for the opportunity to build their American Dream. With eternal curiosity, razor-sharp intellect, and existential longing, Gold is a culinary geographer taking us where no critic has gone before. Like the film, Gold makes low culture high and high culture relevant, teasing out the meaning of life from a Korean taco, and pondering all that makes us different and all that makes us exactly the same.”
“Laura’s film is an amazing portrait of today’s diverse culture as told through the eyes of inimitable food critic Jonathan Gold,” says President of Sundance Selects/IFC Films Jonathan Sehring. “Our entire team fell in love with CITY OF GOLD and we look forward to working with the filmmaking team on its release.”
“We are very excited to be partnering with Sundance Selects on CITY OF GOLD. Jonathan Sehring and his team bring incredible passion and experience to the project and we’re looking forward to bringing Jonathan Gold’s Los Angeles to the world,” says Gabbert.
The deal for the film was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, SVP of Acquisitions from Sundance Selects/IFC Films with Submarine on behalf of the filmmakers.
Previous Sundance Selects documentaries include CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, PINA, HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE, BUCK, DIRTY WARS and this year’s Academy Award nominated film FINDING VIVIAN MAIER.
Sundance Selects is a sister label to IFC Films and IFC Midnight, and is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc.
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About SUNDANCE SELECTS
Established in 2009 and based in New York City, Sundance Selects is a leading U.S. distributor of prestige films focusing on American independents, documentaries and world cinema. Previous releases include the Academy Award nominated Dardenne Brothers’ TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT starring Best Actress nominee Marion Cotillard; David France’s Academy Award nominated documentary HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE; Wim Wenders’ Academy Award nominated documentary PINA; Werner Herzog’s critically acclaimed documentary CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS; Abdellatif Kechiche’s award-winning BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR, starring Adèle Exarchopoulos; Richard Rowley’s Academy Award nominated DIRTY WARS; and John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s Academy Award nominated documentary FINDING VIVIAN MAIER. Sundance Selects is a sister label to IFC Films and IFC Midnight, and is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc.