Lorber Films Acquires Sundance Winner: The Red Chapel

Coming out of film festivals like Sundance, the winners of the festivals respective top prizes more often than not spark a bidding war from distributors, looking to capitalize on the buzz.

That is apparently what happened with the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize award winner in the World Documentary category, the Mads Bruegger directed film, The Red Chapel. The film has been picked up by Lorber Films, who made the announcement from Cannes on Thursday.

The Red Chapel was produced by Zentropa, the production shingle formed by Danish auteur and Criterion Collection favorite Lars von Trier, and has been described as a mix between ‘Michael moore and Monty Python.’ I haven’t had a chance to check out the film, but if that description doesn’t excite you, I don’t know what will.

Lorber Films describes the film like this in a press release:

Denmark launches an all-out attack on North Korea in this has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed documentary that ventures into territory somewhere between Michael Moore and Borat. Bankrolled by Lars von Trier’s Zentropa production company, the aptly named Mads Bruegger travels to Pyongyang on a feigned mission of cultural exchange, bringing a camera crew and the Danish-Korean slapstick-comedy team Red Chapel.

The film sounds really interesting, and if there is anything that film festivals can do, it’s push to the forefront really great documentaries, that would otherwise go unknown or unseen by the average film goer. Not sure what the release will be like here in the states, but the film will hit the U.S. and Canada later this year, and will be followed by TV broadcasts as well as an upcoming DVD release.

Source: indieWIRE