Film News Roundup: Brian Cox’s ‘Etruscan Smile’ Bought by Lightyear
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In today’s film news roundup, Brian Cox’s “The Etruscan Smile” and meditation documentary “The Portal” find homes and Lin-Manuel Miranda is backing a Spanish-language app.
ACQUISITIONS
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Lightyear Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Brian Cox’s “The Etruscan Smile” and plans an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run in November in New York and Los Angeles.
Lightyear is planning a theatrical rollout scheduled for the spring. Rosanna Arquette, JJ Feild, Thora Birch, Treat Williams, Tim Matheson, Peter Coyote and Emanuel Cohn also star.
Arthur Cohn is the producer. Mihal Brezis & Oded Binnun directed from a screenplay by Michael McGowan, Michal Lali Kagan and Sarah Bellwood. The executive producer is Renata Jacobs.
The film stars Cox as a rugged Scotsman who reluctantly leaves his beloved isolated Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment. Moving in with his estranged son, his life will be transformed through a newly found love for his baby grandson.
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Mangurama, the partnership between Abramorama and Giancarlo Canavesio’s Mangusta Productions has bought North American theatrical rights to “The Portal.”
The film is directed and written by first-time Australian director, Jacqui Fifer, and written and produced by international meditation expert Tom Cronin. It will open in November in Los Angeles and New York.
The story follows six ordinary people in order to demonstrate how stillness and mindfulness can unlock personal change and ignite a planetary shift.
LANGUAGE APP
Lin-Manuel Miranda has invested in TheaterEars, an app that enable people to watch theater movies in Spanish.
“Shared family experiences are paramount in my household,” Miranda said. “As a member of the Latinx diaspora, English is not the only language spoken at home and in my family. Being able to go to see a movie as a family, thanks to TheaterEars, has opened a whole new world of entertainment for us to enjoy and discuss together regardless of ability to understand English.”
The app is available at all theaters and has more than 500,000 users.
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