The Exchange has boarded international sales to Jennifer Esposito’s debut feature Fresh Kills and will launch sales at AFM on the female-driven family story set in the world of organised crime.
The gritty drama, also written by, starring and co-produced by Esposito, premiered at 2023 Tribeca Festival and has had a strong run on the US festival circuit since.
It won the audience award for best narrative feature and an honorary prize for Excellence in Directing a Narrative Film from NY Women in Film & Television at Hamptons International Festival, in addition to the Best Artistic Director Prize at the San Diego International Film Festival.
Fresh Kills takes a deep dive into the lives of the typically obscured women of the mob. It follows the matriarch and daughters of a crime family in Staten Island in the late 1980s and early 1990s as they navigate violence and fear and attempt to break free from the unspoken rules dictating who they are and who they are allowed to become.
Loosely inspired by Esposito’s own upbringing, the film is a rare feminist twist on the typically male-dominated mafia drama genre that zooms in on the often-invisible women behind the men.
Leslie Owen, Samantha Sprecher and Christine Crokos produced with Esposito, who co-stars with Emily Bader, Odessa A’zion, Domenick Lombardozzi and Annabella Sciorra. Range Media Partners is handling domestic sales.
“I am honoured and grateful that The Exchange is on board to bring such an important piece to the market. Beyond this mob-genre story lies the deeper meaning of the film: finding a voice in a world that tells you not to have one,” Esposito said.
The Exchange president of worldwide sales and distribution Nat McCormick added, “We are proud to go to AFM with such a brilliantly made and commercial movie with such solid performances.”
Also on the Exchange’s AFM slate are: Sean Ellis thriller The Cut starring Orlando Bloom; high concept sci-fi comedy Nobody Nothing Nowhere with Octavia Spencer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lucy Liu; US border drama The Absence Of Eden with Zoe Saldana and Garrett Hedlund; and triple Deauville Award-winner crime comedy LaRoy with Steve Zahn and John Magaro.
SAG and Critics Choice award-winning actress Esposito has appeared in more than 60 films and TV series including Crash, Summer Of Sam, and Ray Romano’s 2023 release Somewhere In Queens. She next stars in Todd Turner’s upcoming The December Cross opposite Kellan Lutz and Neal McDonough.
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