EXCLUSIVE: London-based company takes UK rights to Maxim Pozdorovkin and Mike Lerner’s documentary [pictured].

London-based Independent has taken UK rights to Maxim Pozdorovkin’s and Mike Lerner’s Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer (sold by Goldcrest).

The film premiered at Sundance in January and will open the Sheffield Doc Fest next month. It was made through London-based Roast Beef Productions.

The film explores what happened after five members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot performed an impromptu gig in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral. Their performance (in February 2012) caused outrage and provoked a fierce debate about freedom of speech in Russia and beyond.

Three of the band members were later put on trial. The film follows their court case, which many observers felt was rigged against them. Two of the group members, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Maria “Masha” Alyokhina, are imprisoned because of their part in the performance.

A third, Katya Samutsevich, was released in October, and is due to give a live Skype interview after the Sheffield premiere next month.

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