 |
NEW YORK -- Miramax Films has picked up North American rights to "Tsotsi," the South African gangster film that won the People's Choice Award at this month's Toronto International Film Festival, according to sources. The film is the second acquisition by Daniel Battsek, the new president of the Walt Disney Studios' specialty film division. Miramax picked up the documentary "The Heart of the Game" during the Toronto fest. The company declined comment on the status of the new acquisition Sunday. The film, shot on a budget of $3.5 million by writer-director Gavin Hood, who directed "A Reasonable Man," is South Africa's official submission this year for the best foreign-language Oscar. The primary language in the film is Tsotsitaal, an Afrikaans-based language spoken on the streets of Soweto. " Tsotsi" tells the story of a teenage thug (or "tsotsi," in South African slang) who faces moral dilemmas after inadvertently kidnapping a baby during a carjacking. Hood adapted the screenplay from the 1980 novel "Tsotsi" by South African playwright Athol Fugard ("Master Harold … and the Boys"), updating the book's 1950s-era setting to a modern one and turning its episodic structure into a more linear narrative. He tried obtaining the rights a decade ago, but since the novel's publication, they had been tied up by various producers. Hood was commissioned by producer Peter Fudakowski to write the adaptation and then finally given the opportunity to shoot his dream project over eight weeks last summer. Miramax has been interested in Hood's sophomore feature since last month's Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it won the Michael Powell award for best British film and the fest's audience award. Battsek lieutenant Kristin Jones was spotted scouting the fest, where "Tsotsi" attracted interest from other studios as well. According to several sources, by the film's first public Toronto screening on Sept. 14, Miramax, Roadside Attractions and Warner Independent Pictures expressed the most serious interest the project. But when its Toronto win was announced Sept. 17, the buzz around the film turned to a roar and several other companies entered the picture, leading to a long week of negotiations. Several executives at competing specialty film distributors expressed admiration for the movie and its lead actor, Presley Chweneyagae, who both plays the title character in his feature film debut and comes from the same kind of shantytown where the film was shot. But one of the execs described the film's foreign language as making it a "tough sell," while another felt its asking price was too high for the same reasons. Others suggested that the film's foreign language (spiced with a few words of English dialogue) is not an insurmountable distribution challenge. They point to the four Oscar nominations for Brazil's Portuguese-language "City of God," which was released by the previous Miramax regime, as well as Catalina Sandino Moreno's best actress nom for HBO Films/Fine Line Features' "Maria Full of Grace." Miramax has not announced whether the film will be released this year to qualify in other Oscar categories or in 2006. Robbie Little, of the Los Angeles-based Little Film Co., was the sales agent repping the project and one of its executive producers. The film was produced by Fudakowski and co-produced by Paul Raleigh. Other executive producers on the project are Sam Bhembe, Doug Mankoff, Basil Ford, Joseph D'Morais, Alan Howden and Rupert Lywood. |
