In the first purely on-site deal to close at Sundance 2023, Magnolia has picked up worldwide rights to Black trans sex workers documentary Kokomo City.
The deal for the NEXT selection concluded after what the distributor said was an all-night negotiation with CAA Media Finance following Saturday night’s world premiere at Egyptian Theatre.
Grammy-nominated songwriter-producer D. Smith makes her feature directing debut on the film in which four Black trans sex workers in Atlanta and New York City break down the walls of their profession.
Lena Waithe served as executive producer on Kokomo City, which will screen in Berlin Panorama next month. Magnolia head of international sales Lorna Lee Torres and international sales manager Austin Kennedy will launch sales with EFM buyers.
Magnolia will release the film theatrically in the US this year. Company president Eamonn Bowles called it “[h]ilarious, revelatory, and wildly entertaining, and with a soundtrack for the ages”.
Smith added, “Before this film, the trans narrative has created barriers that kept us isolated from humanity. My hope is that this film will create a chain reaction of people seeing the full humanity of trans women.”
EVP Dori Begley and SVP of acquisitions John Von Thaden negotiated the deal.
On Friday Magnolia announced it had closed a worldwide deal for Little Richard: I Am Everything.
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