By Simon de Bruyn
Matthew Newton’s acclaimed film Three Blind Mice will screen at the South By Southwest film festival in March, as part of a deal which also includes a cable TV premiere on the Independent Film Channel.
And in news separate to the IFC deal, the film has also scored a limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles at about the same time.
As part of a deal announced at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Three Blind Mice will premiere simultaneously at South By Southwest (commonly abbreviated to SXSW) and on the IFC Festival Direct video on demand platform.
Newton’s film was one of five films selected in the deal, which was negotiated by his sales agent, Michael Favelle of Odin’s Eye Entertainment, with IFC’s Jeff Deutchman. Odin’s Eye holds both Australian and international sales rights for the film.
The SXSW Film Conference and Festival, which competes with Sundance, is being held 13-21 March in Austin, Texas, in conjunction with its big music festival.
The festival slot is the latest in a series for Three Blind Mice, which last year won praise at the Toronto Film Festival, was highly commended by the jury at the 2008 Sydney Film Festival, and won best screenplay at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.
The film also picked up the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize at the London Film Festival in November, before screening at AFI Fest in Hollywood later that month.
Three Blind Mice was written and directed by actor Matthew Newton and produced by Ben Davis of Dirty Rat Films.
Australian theatrical distribution has yet to be announced.