US buyers are continuing to circle acquisition titles at a Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) line-up that has delivered a low deal count
US buyers are continuing to circle acquisition titles at a Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) line-up that has delivered a low deal count to date.
As of today (Septemer 11), many buyers have returned to Los Angeles or New York, and the headline news remains Focus Features’ pursuit of Curry Barker’s Midnight Madness horror Obsession, on which the studio remains locked in exclusive negotiations for most of the world.
Nascent buyer Row K paid seven figures for North American rights to Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire, which received its North American premiere in TIFF after debuting in Venice; and Black Bear’s fledgling US distribution division opted to self-distribute the Sydney Sweeney boxing biopic Christy, a film it financed, produced, and sells internationally.
Many attribute part of the on-site torpor to a TIFF selection lacking in must-have acquisition titles. Others point to a lack of urgency cultivated by year-round buying activity, often during periods that are not scrutinised as closely as major industry events. The ongoing post-Covid reality is that transactions take longer to close as distributors figure out how to sparkle in a competitive North American release calendar, and pay-1 buyers are lowballing offers to theatrical counterparts.
In addition, buyers including Neon, Focus Features, A24, Sony Pictures Classics, Bleecker Street, and Independent Film Company arrived in Toronto with fairly packed line-ups – awards season or otherwise – and aer under no mandate to acquire (although that has not stopped Focus trying to add Obsession to its line-up).
Acquisition targets
It seems a matter of time before Mona Fastvold’s much-fancied Venice premiere The Testament Of Ann Lee, which got its North American debut in TIFF, will find a home. Similarly, Screen understands Kent Jones’s Venice Horizons premiere Late Fame starring Willem Dafoe – which screened in the market in TIFF but not in official selection – may be nearing a deal.
Also drawing interest are the TIFF world premieres of Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers, Alice Winocour’s Couture starring Angelina Jolie, Ben Wheatley’s Normal, Adam Carter Rehmeier’s Carolina Caroline, Bobby Farrelly’s Driver’s Ed, David Mackenzie’s Fuze, and Poetic License and California Schemin’ from directorial debutants Maude Apatow and James McAvoy are well-liked.
Potsy Ponciroli’s revenge tale Motor City, which premiered in Vencie Spotlight, has also captured the eye of buyers, as have Romain Gavras’s satirical thriller Sacrifice, and Clement Virgo’s psychological thriller Steal Away.
Speaking on a TIFF Buyers In Focus panel earlier in the festival, Dylan Leiner of Sony Pictures Classics, which increasingly invests in films and pre-buys, noted acquisitions is a year-round business. The company has been at TIFF with a slate of eight films – many of them potential awards contenders such as Rebecca Zlotowski’s A Private Life, Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, and James Vanderbilt’s Nuremberg.
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