ATO signs North American deal for Moll thriller The Monk

New York-based ATO Pictures has acquired North American rights to Dominik Moll’s anticipated gothic thriller The Monk starring Vincent Cassel.

The distributor plans to release after an autumn festival premiere. The film is based on Matthew G Lewis’ 18th novel about a monk who meets a violent downfall when he engages in an affair with his pupil. Deborah Francois and Sergi Lopez co-star.

The Monk is a co-production between France-based Diaphana Films and Spain’s Morena Films. ATO’s Sarah Lash and co-founder Johnathan Dorfman brokered the deal with Memento Films International’s (MFI) Emilie Georges, Tanja Meissner and Nicholas Shumaker.

The deal marks the second collaboration between the companies after ATO acquired Pawel Pawlikowski’s Woman In The Fifth earlier this year.

“We have been admirers of Dominik Moll since With A Friend Like Harry and are enormously proud to have the opportunity to bring The Monk to American audiences,” co-founders Dorfman and Temple Fennell said.

Meanwhile, MFI has reported a flurry of trade on Malgorzata Szumowska’s Elles starring Juliette Binoche and produced by Slot Machine. Deals closed in Spain (Golem), Australia (Palace), Netherlands (Wild Bunch), Belgium (Imagine), South Korea (Wise And Wide), Taiwan (Joint), Switzerland (Frenetic), Greece (Videorama), Israel (Shapira) and former Yugoslavia (MCF).