Variety is reporting that Abbolita Films has acquired multi-territory rights to a number of XYZ Films titles, including Gerard Barrett’s Brain on Fire and Brendan Muldowney’s Pilgrimage.
The two companies agreed a strategic partnership earlier this year at Cannes, which sees Abbolita gaining distribution rights for Turkey, Portugal, Greece, Israel, South Africa, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and the Philippines
Brain On Fire follows a rising journalist who mysteriously starts having seizures and hearing voices. As weeks go by, she moves inexplicably from violence to catatonia — but a last-minute intervention by one doctor finally gives her a diagnosis and hope to rebuild her life. Chloë Grace Moretz stars in the lead, alongside Tyler Perry, Richard Armitage, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jenny Slate, and Thomas Mann.
Brain On Fire is produced by Charlize Theron, Beth Kono, and A.J. Dix for Denver & Delilah Films, Rob Merilees and Lindsay Macadam for Foundation Features, and Gabriel and Daniel Hammond for Broad Green Pictures. Barrett is also attached as co-producer. Broad Green act as distributors in the US.
Pilgrimage follows a small group of monks who begin a reluctant pilgrimage across an island torn between centuries of tribal warfare and the growing power of Norman invaders. Escorting their monastery’s holiest relic to Rome, the monks’ progress is seen through the eyes of a pious young novice and a mute lay-brother with a violent past.
The film had a seven-week shoot, with filming on Ireland’s west coast and in the Ardennes region of Belgium. The script comes from Jamie Hannigan, with Muldowney’s Love Eternal cinematographer Tom Comerford returning. Pilgrimage is an Irish/Belgian co-production with Conor Barry and John Keville of Dublin-based Savage Productions and Benoit Roland of Wrong Men North as producers. Financing comes from the Irish Film Board, Creative Europe, Broadcasting Authority Of Ireland, Wallimages, and the Wallonia Cultural Fund. XYZ Films is executive producing and will represent the film’s U.S. rights with WME.
Other titles in the latest deal include Yann Demange’s Belfast set drama ’71 and Jeremy Saulnier’s eagerly anticipated Green Room.