Film Movement has acquired all North American rights to Hockney, Randall Wright’s feature of the famed painter.
The film contains about 200 of Hockney’s paintings in high definition, which merits big screen viewing, before its U.S. TV premiere on Smithsonian Channel in June.
A personal portrait of the life, art and craft of the painter, 77, who still works seven days a week, Hockney includes access to his personal video collection and original testaments of friends so as to paint a more complex portrait of a painter whose life and art inextricably overlays and meshes. “Evidence of a private David is … very deeply connected to what he’s trying to do as an artist, which is to subvert the mainstream media as well as to be a traditional artist using oil and acrylic and etching and drawing techniques,” Wright, whose credits also include “Lucien Freud: Painted Life,” told Sight and Sound.
The deal with HanWay Select sales and distribution covers North American theatrical, educational, digital, and home video rights.
Hockney will continue its festival run in the U.S. via Film Movement, then open theatrically in April 2016.
“We’re delighted to be working with Film Movement, who’ve shown incredible passion for ‘Hockney,’ a remarkable and insightful film about one of the world’s great artists,” said HanWay’s Lane.
“Randall Wright not only has a way of connecting with artists, but can skillfully craft a portrait of their lives and work onscreen,” said Rosenberg.
Film Movement describes Hockney as “one of the last surviving icons of the 1960s,” who “started his career with almost instant success, but in private struggle with his art, relationships and the tragedy of AIDs.” After his relocation to Hollywood, “his lifelong struggle to escape labels (‘queer,’ ‘working class,’ ‘figurative’) was fully realized. “Hockney” reveals “the optimism so often found in his iconographic work.”
Founded in 2002, Film Movement has carved out a business and proved a consistent American distributor for an eclectic range of award-winning U.S. indie and foreign titles. Recent acquisitions include Zachary Treitz’s “Men Go to Battle,” an American Civil War drama; Matt Sobel’s Sundance drama “Take Me To the River,” a teen’s coming out tale; Finecut-sold social horror film “Sea Fog,” helmed by Shim Song-Bo and produced by Bong Joon-Ho; and Melanie Laurent’s “Breathe,” a teen girl friendship story, which opens in New York September 11 at the IFC Center.
