Weeelllll… the mystery is over; snippet of press release below:

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada September 9, 2011 – Fox Searchlight Pictures Presidents Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula announced today that the company has acquired U. S. rights to the intimate and provocative drama SHAME. The film is directed by Steve McQueen, written by McQueen and Abi Morgan and stars Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan. SHAME is a See-Saw Films production for Film4 and U.K. Film Council and produced by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman. Tessa Ross, Robert Walak, Peter Hampden and Tim Haslam are executive producers with Bergen Swanson as co-producer. HanWay Films is handling international sales. The film is scheduled to be released in 2011.

The fact that they are going to release it this year, with just over 3 months to go in the year, obviously implies a run at Oscar for the film and its star (or stars). No specific date yet though. I’ll be seeing it in about 3 weeks at the NYFF, and will share my thoughts after.