Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Marley Morrison’s LGBTQ coming-of-age story Sweetheart, winner of the Glasgow Film Festival audience award and two British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) breakthrough prizes.
The film stars Nell Barlow as AJ, a young woman dreading a week on the Dorset coast with her family and boyfriend. When AJ lays eyes on the resident lifeguard Isla, her world changes. Jo Hartley, Sophia Di Martino, Samuel Anderson and Ella-Rae Smith round out the key cast.
Film Movement plans a theatrical release later this year followed by home entertainment and digital platforms for Sweetheart, which premiered at Glasgow last year. It also won breakthrough performance and breakthrough producer awards for Barlow and Michelle Antoniades, respectively, at the Bifas, and the international jury award for best first feature at Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival.
“Between Nell Barlow’s nuanced and touching star turn, and Morrison’s witty screenplay, this is a film that has the ability to speak to all audiences, and we’re excited we have the opportunity to showcase such a promising new director in theatres later this year,” said Film Movement president Michael Rosenberg, who announced the deal with Antoniades of Hazey Jane Films on Monday (June 13).
Antoniades called Sweetheart “an uplifting and important film for the new Queer generation”.
Film Movement recently acquired Li Ruijun’s Golden Bear nominee Return To Dust and four Ukrainian films including that country’s previous Oscar submissions Bad Roads and Donbass.
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