Music to my ears… this is great news! Hat-tip to Variance for making another bold pick-up (recall Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer last year), going where others seemingly will not; and of course congrats to Terence Nance and company.
Winner of the Gotham award for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, An Oversimplification Of Her Beauty will no longer have to live up to what that award title suggests, since the film is coming to a theater near you (hopefully near as many of you as possible), in April!
This news comes a month after Cinema Guild acquired non-theatrical distribution rights to the film, which currently boasts Jay-Z, Wyatt Cenac, Dream Hampton, and Joy Bryant as executive producers.
Nance’s critically-acclaimed debut was one of the most stylish, inventive, challenging, thoughtful and engaging films I saw at the Sundance Film Festival a year ago (read my review HERE if you haven't), so this is good news! I'm glad that more of you will finally get to see it for yourselves in about 3 months, when Variance will open it in USA and Canadian theaters starting on April 12th.
Also read Jasmin's great Finding The New Black interview with director Terence Nance HERE.
The full story via press release follows below:
Variance Films acquires North American theatrical rights to AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY
Award-winning festival favorite from executive producers Jay-Z and Wyatt Cenac to receive April 12th theatrical release
New York, NY, January 14th– Variance Films announced today that it has acquired all North American theatrical rights to Terence Nance’s award-winning debut, AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY. Variance will release the film in US and Canadian theaters beginning April 12th, 2013. Cinema Guild will then release the film on DVD and digital platforms in late summer 2013.
With arresting insight, vulnerability, and a delightful sense of humor, Nance’s explosively creative debut feature documents the relationship between Terence and a lovely young woman (Namik Minter) as it teeters on the divide between platonic and romantic. Utilizing a tapestry of live action and multiple styles of animation, Terence explores the fantasies, emotions, and memories that race through his mind as he examines and re-examines a singular moment in time. Executive producers of the film include Jay-Z, Wyatt Cenac, Dream Hampton, and Joy Bryant.
After debuting at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY became a favorite on the festival circuit as an official selection of the Rotterdam, Santa Barbara, San Francisco International, New Directors New Films, Los Angeles, and Traverse City Film Festivals, before ending the year by winning the Gotham Award for “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You”. Variance intends to continue making a habit out of turning that award into a bit of a misnomer, having also released 2010 winner LITTLEROCK and 2009 nominee GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH.
“I know it’s a bit cliché to say ‘you’ve never seen anything like this before’, but if you’ve caught the film, I think you’ll agree that you’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Dylan Marchetti of Variance Films. “Somehow, Terence has managed to blend documentary, narrative, ten different styles of animation, and a short film while telling a story that is immediately relatable to anyone who has ever loved someone who didn’t love them back, and frankly, that’s just about everyone.”
“It’s been a long road for this film. We first rolled camera in 2006, and on that day I never would have imagined that this day would come,” said Terence Nance. “I’m extremely excited to be partnering with Dylan and Variance to bring AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY to theaters. They are fearless defenders of the theatrical experience, and I’m convinced the best place to see this film is at a theater near you.”
AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY will be the third Variance Films release from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, after Spike Lee’s RED HOOK SUMMER and Mark Webber’s THE END OF LOVE (in theaters March 1st). Variance’s next release will be Dave Grohl’s SOUND CITY, a 2013 Sundance Film Festival selection, in theaters February 1st.
AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY is a Media MVMT production, and was produced by Terence Nance, Andrew D Corkin and James Bartlett. The deal was negotiated by Dylan Marchetti on behalf of Variance Films and by Traction Media on behalf of the producers.
