Eephus

US filmmaker Carson Lund’s debut feature Eephus has been acquired for France by Capricci, with a theatrical release plotted for the first half of 2025.

London and Paris-based Film Constellation is handling world sales on the film that premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes last month. 

The New England-set comedy drama unfolds as a construction project looms over a small-town baseball field, leaving a pair of Sunday league teams to face off for the last time over the course of a day.

The cast includes Keith William Richards, Wayne Diamond and Keith Poulson, with a voice cameo by celebrated director Frederick Wiseman.

Producers are Lund, Tyler Taormina, Michael Basta, and David Entin for Los Angeles-based Omnes Films.

Co-producers are Gabe Klinger, Ola Byszuk, Michael Richter of US outfit A Major Production; Kyle Stroud of his US company Carte Blanche; and ColdFeet Films in association with Through The Lens Entertainment in the US.

Paris-based Nord-Ouest Films boarded Eephus prior to Cannes as the film’s French co-producer.

Michael Tonelli, Ashish Shetty, Brian Clark, and Jim Christman of Magmys are executive producers.

“We were immediately seduced by this astonishing first film, which is as funny as it is melancholic, and whose stakes go far beyond the baseball field. Carson Lund’s impressively rigorous direction makes him a voice to be reckoned with in today’s US independent cinema landscape,” said a statement from Capricci.

Last year Capricci released three titles from the Cannes selection in Elene Naveriani’s Blackbird, Blackberry, Stéphan Castang’s Vincent Must Die and Hong Sang Soo’s Directors’ Fortnight closing film In Our Days.

“To be in the company of the many boundary-pushing filmmakers that they’ve supported over the years is one of those awe-inspiring gifts you might not expect after a debut feature,” noted Eephus director Lund.