UK distributor Dogwoof has taken on four new titles for UK release, and also is furthering its new initiative to encourage film lovers to get involved hosting regional screenings.

Dogwoof has acquired UK rights to You Don’t Like The Truth – 4 Days Inside Guantanamo, Bobby Fischer Against The World, Blood in the Mobile, and Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times.

Luc Côté and Patricio Henríquez’s 4 Days Inside Guantanamo [pictured], acquired from Films Transit, is about Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen detained when he was a teenager.

Liz Garbus’ Bobby Fischer, a portrait of the chess icon, will open July 15.

Andrew Rossi’s Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times, which premiered at Sundance, will be released in the UK in September.

Frank Piasecki Poulsen’s Blood In The Mobile, about the connection between mobile phone manufacturing and war in the Congo, recently won the Cinema For Peace award for justice, in Berlin. It will be released in October.

Andy Whitaker from Dogwoof told Screen: “We’re delighted to have acquired these films, we believe they are great examples of social issue cinema and we aim to create major social impact campaigns around them.”

In other Dogwoof news, the company is ramping up its new Ambassadors programme. The distributor first tested the idea with its release of Restrepo and will continue it with A Small Act in May, but will launch the Ambassadors programme at its fullest with the release of Lucy Walker’s nuclear weapons documentary Countdown to Zero on June 24.

The Ambassadors scheme recruits film lovers with an entrepreneurial spirit to host their own regional premieres (for paying audiences) in local communities.

For example, on A Small Act, local Ambassadors will have the chance to host screenings of the film before its official UK release. For Countdown to Zero, Ambassadors can benefit from a satellite premiere of the film from BAFTA on June 21 including a panel discussion featuring Queen Noor, Valerie Plame, and producer Lawrence Bender.

The company said: “It’s time to empower people to take a more active role in the distribution of films. Cinemas cannot service demand everywhere, and Dogwoof want people to see their films while the buzz is greatest.”

More info about the Ambassadors programme can be found here.

Topics