Biz Buzz: First Major Deal of the Sundance FF

[img_assist|nid=9026|title=Roman Polanski|desc=|link=node|align=center|width=550|height=369] 

Saturday, January 19--------Well, it didn't take very long for the first major deal of the Sundance Film Festival to make the rounds. ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, a film by Marina Zenovich, has been acquired for international distribution by The Weinstein Company. The international deal excludes all U.S. and Canadian rights, as well as U.K. television rights. An announcement for the remaining rights is expected to close today in Park City. The film had its world premiere last night at Sundance, with buyers and industry buzzing about the film afterward.

POLANSKI, which screens in the Festival's Documentary Competition, chronicles the private tragedy and scandal that led to the legendary Polish-born film-maker to leave the United States in the mid 1970s and take up residence in France. Polanski risks prison time if he ever enters the United States, stemming from his flight to Europe prior to a trial of statutory rape for his seduction of a 15 year old girl in the home of his friend Jack Nicholson. Polanski famously had to miss the Academy Awards a few years ago when he was actually awarded the Best Director prize for THE PIANIST. While many of his Hollywood contemporaries have been pressing lawmakers to offer him an amnesty, legal officials have continually said that Polanski would be arrested if he ever sets foot on American soil again. What the loss of the filmmaker of such classics as ROSEMARY'S BABY and CHINATOWN has meant for American filmmaking is speculated by the many famous actors and directors featured in the documentary film. The film is produced by New York-based indie Antidote Films and represents the first completed pact by Cinetic Media, which is representing a record 19 titles in all sections of the Festival.

Sandy Mandelberger, Sundance FF Editor