EXCLUSIVE: Yellow Veil Pictures has acquired North American distribution rights to director Mattie Do’s sci-fi thriller The Long Walk, which had its world premiere at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. Do’s third feature film will now get an early 2022 U.S. release.
The deal was struck as the Cannes Virtual Market officially got underway Monday. Yellow Veil co-founders Justin Timms, Joe Yanick and Hugues Barbier handled negotiations with 108 Media Corp’s Jordan Nutson for the filmmakers.
The Long Walk (Bor Mi Vanh Chark), penned by Do collaborator Christopher Larson, centers on an elderly man (Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy) who has the power to travel back in time thanks to a mysterious spectral companion whose death he witnessed 50 years earlier. He decides to trespass into his own past and set in motion a plan to preempt his mother’s terminal suffering, and ultimately appease his soul.
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Do and Larsen produced with Annick Mahnert, Justin Deimen and Abhi Rastogi. Jeremy Sim and Terence Kong are executive producers.
“I’m beyond excited that my film has finally found a legitimate home with a company that has experience, knowledge, and zeal for unique and daring new genre stories,” said Do, Laos’ lone female director whose second pic, 2016’s Dearest Sister, became that country’s first Oscar submission. “I couldn’t be happier to see The Long Walk entrusted to a passionate and dedicated company like Yellow Veil.”
The film was financed and produced by 108 Media and Aurora Media Holdings in Singapore, with 108 Media handling global rights after it was picked up from the Southeast Asian Film Financing Project Market in Singapore. It also has played at Toronto, Fantastic Fest and Sitges.
“We have been following Mattie’s career closely since her breakthrough debut feature Chantaly, and we are beyond excited to be able to bring to the North American audiences her latest film The Long Walk,” Barbier said. “Acclaimed by critics and audiences all over the world during its festival run, and we hope this release will bring even more attention to one of the most inspiring filmmakers in recent memory.”
