Soda Pictures takes Norwegian Wood

UK distributor Soda Pictures has snapped up Tran Anh Hung’s Norwegian Wood for the UK and Ireland, after a deal negotiated with Fortissimo Film Sales’s Nicole Mackey.

The film, a world premiere in Venice, has also recently screened in Toronto. It is an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Haruki Murakami.
 
Eve Gabereau, Managing Director of Soda Pictures, has been tracking the project since script level and commented that she is “beyond thrilled to be releasing the first major adaptation of his work. Tran Anh Hung and his cast and crew have turned the novel into a cinematic feast for fellow fans and will entice many a newcomer into the wonderful world of this literary great.” She added that Norwegian Wood will “be a marketeer’s dream given the film’s lush imagery, beautiful love story and fantastic soundtrack, including the eponymous Beatles track and an original score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood.”
 
Fortissimo’s Nicole Mackey says “it is a pleasure to be in business with Soda Pictures and to work with them on Norwegian Wood which has been a joy to bring to market. Soda joins a raft of other great distributors to be releasing this film to the world”
 
The film is part of Soda’s new Film Fund slate and will be released in Spring 2011.

Soda has also confirmed details of a number of other recent acquisitions.

Among these is Howl starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg, alongside Jon Hamm, Alessandro Nivola, David Strathairn, Bob Balaban, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels and Treat Williams. Howl (bought from The Match Factory) screens in the London Film Festival and will be released in early 2011.

Also new on Soda’s slate is Janus Metz’s controversial documentary Armadillo, about Danish soldiers in Afghanistan. Winner of the Critics Week Grand Prix at Cannes 2010, the film (sold by TrustNordisk) is also in the LFF and will be released in May 2011.

Another pick-up is Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Cannes competition entry Screaming Man, set in present-day Chad, story about a father son relationship and changing social values and economic pressures, set against the backdrop of a country in the throes of a civil war.  Set for release in May 2011, the film was bought from Pyramide.

Meanwhile, Soda has snapped up Michael Noer’s prison drama R from TrustNordisk. The film will be released in March next year.