Fledgling US distributor and international sales agency The Forge, led by longtime producer and Vashon Island Film Festival director Mark Mathias Sayre, is heading to Cannes with a slate including Civil War epic Freedom’s Path.
Brett Smith’s drama stars Gerran Howell, RJ Cyler, and Ewen Bremner and centres on a Union solider who flees battle and is rescued by a free Black man operating a section of the Underground Railroad.
The roster includes Matthew Mishory’s documentary Fioretta, which will open in the US through Gravitas Ventures and profiles lawyer and philanthropist Randy Schoenberg’s search for his oldest recorded ancestor.
Jordan Albertsen’s rock documentary BOOM: A Film About The Sonics is being lined up for a US autumn release in more than 20 markets through The Forge; and Benjamin Epstein’s Buck Alamo (Or A Phantasmagorical Ballad) centres on a musical outlaw.
CEO Sayre, CMO Steven Swadling, and acquisitions coordinator Decker Sadowski will be on the Croisette screening Freedom’s Path, Fioretta, and Boom, and looking to acquire titles.
Sayre founded The Forge with a mission to educate and empower independent filmmakers. “As an independent producer, I had grown frustrated with antiquated acquisition strategies, lopsided waterfalls, and a general lack of transparency in sales and distribution,” he said. “So, I decided to do something about it.”
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