Film Movement has bought North American rights to My Mistress, Stephen Lance’s erotic drama about the affair between a vulnerable teenager (Harrison Gilbertson) and a French S&M mistress (Emmanuelle Béart).
By IF’s reckoning at least 27 Australian titles have secured US distribution deals this year. Most are getting limited theatrical releases as a platform for home entertainment exposure.
Film Movement will release the film on DVD and VOD, including via its subscription streaming service dubbed Film-of-the-Month Club.
The deal was negotiated by international sales agent LevelK, which had already sold the film to Japan (New Select), the UK ( Film House), Russia (Russian Report) and Hong Kong (Sundream Motion Pictures).
LevelK’s Tine Klint is screening the film this week at the Busan International Film Festival in Korea and hopes to close more deals. Produced by Leanne Tonkes and Steve Kearney, the film opens in Australia on November 6 via Transmission.
Klint agrees with IF’s story last week which contrasted booming overseas sales for Australian films this year with the often disappointing local B.O. results.
“Australia is great at developing extremely strong scripts before starting production and it has experienced professional cast and crew,” she told IF.
According to Screen Australia the rights to 53 SA–funded features were sold to around 167 buyers in approximately 72 territories in 2013-2014. Sales to North America included The Babadook, Mystery Road, Patrick, The Railway Man, These Final Hours, Tracks, The Turning and Wolf Creek 2.
Some 26 titles sold to the major territories North America, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia and Japan, and there were strong advance sales for Backtrack, The Dressmaker, Life, Lion (aka A Long Way Home), Paper Planes and Strangerland.
“Most distributors will look at local box office numbers but often it will not reflect how the film would be perceived by another country´s audience," Tine said. "The local marketing campaign might be possible to build from or adapt to another country.
“We often sell before your local release. The international release of Australian films most often is before your local release. Not all films need to be seen on the big screen.”