METROGRAPH PICTURES ACQUIRES FILM FESTIVAL BREAKOUT APRIL, DIRECTED BY DEA KULUMBEGASHVILI, AHEAD OF ITS NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL PREMIERE
A SINGULAR CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE, THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED FILM WON THE SPECIAL JURY PRIZE IN VENICE; IT WAS ALSO SELECTED FOR TORONTO, NEW YORK, SAN SEBASTIAN, BFI LONDON, AND MORE; METROGRAPH WILL GIVE IT A 2025 THEATRICAL RELEASE
Courtesy of Metrograph Pictures
New York, NY (September 30, 2024)–Metrograph Pictures has acquired North American rights for Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Venice Special Jury Prize-winner April. The critically adored movie is Kulumbegashvili’s second film and had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where it was immediately declared one of the standouts of this year’s festival circuit; this was followed by appearances at the Toronto International Film Festival and San Sebastian Film Festival, where it won the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award, and it will next screen at the New York Film Festival as part of its Main Slate. Metrograph Pictures will release the film in theaters next year.
Dea Kulumbegashvili’s debut feature, Beginning, was selected for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival as well as the San Sebastian Film Festival’s main competition, where it earned a historical win taking home four awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress for Ia Sukhitashvili.
April reunites Kulumbegashvili with actors Ia Sukhitashvili (Beginning) and Kakha Kintsurashvili (Beginning) as well as cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan (Beginning, Bones and All). The film was produced by The film was produced by Frenesy Film, First Picture, Memo Films, and Independent Film Project. Producers are Luca Guadagnino, Ilan Amouyal, David Zerat, Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Archil Gelovani, Gabriele Moratti and Alexandra Rossi. Executive producers include Steven Darty, Adrien Dassault, Christian Vesper, Giovanni Corrado, Raffaella Viscardi, Moreno Zani, Malcom Pagani, Marco Colombo and Federico Marchetti, with Sergei Yahontov co-producing alongside associate producers Livio Strazzera and Jan Pastori.
The film follows Nina, a skilled obstetrician at a maternity hospital in Eastern Georgia. After a difficult delivery, an infant dies and the grief-stricken father demands an inquiry into her methods. The resulting scrutiny threatens to bring to light Nina’s secret side job—driving through the stunningly beautiful countryside to the village homes of pregnant girls and women to provide unsanctioned abortions—and to destroy the work that is the only source of meaning in her life.
The film was immediately hailed as a masterpiece following its award-winning premiere at the Venice Film Festival. It was described as “miraculous” by the Hollywood Reporter, while Variety heralded it as “a radical, shattering exploration of women’s lives,” as well as “extraordinary” and “staggering.” IndieWire bestowed the film with a Critic’s Pick and heralded Dea Kulumbegashvili as “one of the world’s most visceral filmmakers,” while Awards Daily declared that it “cements her status as one of the boldest, most original voices in arthouse cinema today.” The Film Stage labeled it “a mystical cinematic revelation” and Little White Lies called it an “all-consuming sensorial experience and made all the much better to those willing to surrender to its mysteries.”
April was named one of the best films of this year’s fall festivals by W Magazine, Screen, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, and the Associated Press, among others.
David Laub, Head of Metrograph Pictures, said, “April is a bold, brilliant, completely original piece of cinema unlike anything we have ever seen. While dealing with tremendously important and relevant modern issues, it transcends easy categorization and instead proves to be one the most unique and thrillingly unclassifiable films ever made. Dea is an amazing, one-of-a-kind artist, and we could not be more excited to support her work and present this film in a way that will resonate with wider audiences hungry for fresh and distinctive movies. It’s a masterpiece for a new generation.”
Said Director Dea Kulumbegashvili, “April is my humble tribute to Georgia, perhaps showing a world full of pain but also of tremendous beauty. Traveling from one village to another, witnessing the lives of women in shadows of the village houses, hearing up the faint voices of those who felt trapped into their own fates… April grew into a testimony of overwhelming, unbearable empathy and shuttering feeling of helplessness. Perhaps in places April manifests itself as a feverish dream entranced with anxiety and anger but nevertheless it is an expression of love to the place where I come from and that I’ll always carry with me.
I have been a long time audience at the Metrograph cinema, it has brought many of my favorite films to the New York City and have proved to be champions of art house films. I’m humbled and delighted that Metrograph Pictures will be distributing April in the US, and that it joins a lineup of incredible films from all over the world.”
The deal was negotiated by Eva Diederix at Goodfellas on behalf of the filmmakers.
For Press Inquiries, Please Contact:
Nico Chapin, nico@metrograph.com
Layla Hancock-Piper, layla@cineticmedia.com
About Metrograph
Metrograph is an entertainment company founded in 2016, based in New York City. Metrograph NYC is an independent movie theater at 7 Ludlow Street focusing on rare archival screenings (35mm and digital), special premieres, and Q&As.
Metrograph Pictures is an independent distribution company started in 2019 centered around Metrograph’s signature curation. In 2024, the company ramped up its distribution operation with the acquisition of India Donaldson’s acclaimed Sundance breakout Good One (also selected for the 2024 Director’s Fortnight in Cannes), Academy Award nominee Jérémy Clapin’s sci-fi mystery Meanwhile on Earth, which premiered in Berlinale Panorama 2024, and Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden’s warmhearted SXSW comedy The Black Sea, three films at the 2024 Cannes FIlm Festival: Un Certain Regard stand outs Santosh, a riveting police procedural directed by Sandhya Suri and The Kingdom, Julian Colonna’s incendiary Corsican mob thriller, along with Director’s Fortnight discovery, directed by Ryan J. Sloane, and Christian Petzold’s forthcoming film, Miroirs No. 3. Past films include restorations such as Possession (1981), A Bigger Splash (1973), Downtown 81 (1981/2001), and Hyenas (1992). In addition to restorations, Metrograph Pictures has re-released The French (1982), presented by Wes Anderson, and Claire Denis’ L’intrus (2004), and released the celebrated documentary Sisters With Transistors (2020). Metrograph’s SVOD platform, Metrograph At Home, launched in July 2020, and has been bringing Metrograph’s signature curation to a nationwide audience at metrograph.com.