"GRACE" KILLS AT SUNDANCE & GERARDMER - PICKS UP FRENCH DIST.
“GRACE” Acquired by ‘French Connection’ for Exclusive Distribution
JANUARY 29, 2008, LOS ANGELES, CA – Following its successful world premiere at Sundance, Leomax Entertainment’s psychological horror feature GRACE debuted to a sold out audience tonight in Europe at the 16th Festival du Film Fantastique Gerardmer in Gerardmer, France, one of Europe’s most respected and notable genre festivals.
Lightning Entertainment, handling international sales of the film, has announced its first European sale, to French distributor Yves Chevalier’s “French Connection.”
GRACE created a sensation at the recent Sundance Film Festival when, during its midnight premiere screening, two adult men fainted trying to leave the theater. By all accounts, it was the first time in Sundance history that anyone had fainted directly due to a film’s graphic imagery.
The film received unexpected critical praise at Sundance, with many declaring it haunting and original, and reminiscent of the psychological horror films of the 1970’s (“Think Rosemary’s Baby meets Little Shop of Horrors,” said USA Today’s Anthony Breznican; “One of the most unique, disturbing and perversely funny horror visions in some time,” said Geoff Berkshire, of LA Times Metromix).
Also surprising to its first-time writer/director Paul Solet and the film’s producers, GRACE attracted an atypically disproportionate female following for a horror film. The film’s central figure is a young mother who goes to frightful lengths to nurture and protect her daughter, Grace, who is initially stillborn yet mysteriously comes back to life. Many men, conversely, spurred controversial debate outside the screening rooms, arguing that its scenes of childbirth were too graphic.
GRACE is a psychological horror film written and directed by Paul Solet and stars Jordan Ladd. GRACE is produced by Leomax’s Ingo Vollkammer, Cory Neal and Adam Green of Ariescope Pictures, and Kevin DeWalt from Dark Eye Entertainment. Leomax’s Scott Einbinder, and Simon Edery are executive producers.
Solet adapted the screenplay from his own award-winning, eponymous short film, which attracted legions of web-based horror fans. Fangoria Magazine called the short “Superbly bizarre… disturbing and original.”
Evocative of classic, disturbing thrillers such as “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Omen,” GRACE will be featured at many additional international festivals in 2009, including: Fright Fest in Glasgow, the Brussels Fantastic Film Festival, Pifan (Korea), Fantasporto (Portugal), Madrid Fantasy Film Festival, and the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival.
Critical Acclaim for GRACE
“Supremely effective horror movie... Bloody, unnerving and witty, this ingenious satire of our culture of obsessive parenting announces the arrival of a promising talent, writer-director Paul Solet.”
Christopher Kelly, McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
"Solet bestows a sense of crawling tension upon the most benign, or even beneficent, subject -- hospitals, doctors, airbags, tofu, animal-oriented cable TV, a cat, a package of liver. The results are funny, creepy and oh so provocative.” John Anderson, VARIETY
“One of the most unique, disturbing and perversely funny horror visions in some time.”
Geoff Berkshire, LA METROMIX