STRAND RELEASING acquires all US rights to Matthew Bissonnette’s PASSENGER SIDE
May 11, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Strand Releasing has acquired all US rights to Matthew Bissonnette’s PASSENGER SIDE it was announced today, the film screens in this year’s edition of the Marche du film at the Cannes International Film Festival.
Writer/director Matthew Bissonnette’s (Looking for Leonard, Who Loves The Sun) new feature PASSENGER SIDE, is a comic road movie that never leaves Los Angeles – about brothers, and the strange complex bonds that are created when opposites are bound together by life, family and blood and stars Adam Scott, Joel Bissonnette and Robin Tunney.
On the morning of his thirty-seventh birthday Michael (Adam Scott – The Vicious Kind, Step Brothers, The Aviator, Knocked Up) wakes up in Los Angeles. He is at the end of the country, the end of his over-extended youth, and the end of his literary luck. At this pivotal moment the telephone rings, and it is Tobey (Joel Bissonnette – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Looking for Leonard, Zodiac), his baby brother, a terrible drug addict, now ostensibly clean, and once again in need of help; his car is broken and he has a job interview; needs to pick up his dry-cleaning, return library books etc – or so he says.
Michael puts off his seemingly romantic birthday plans, and with his brother embarks on a sketchy, meandering day long odyssey through the mysteries of Los Angeles County. As the day unfolds the two brothers talk about their past, present and futures; meet loads of strange characters; and, cover many, many miles and it becomes clear that this drive will, in the end, lead them to some very unexpected destinations.
The deal was negotiated between Jon Gerrans of Strand Releasing, Glen Reynolds of Circus Road Films and producer, Corey Marr.
“We’re thrilled to be working with this talented team and have been a fan of the film since it debuted at the Toronto Film Festival,” said Gerrans.
“As filmmakers you hope to find a distributor that will have the passion and dedication to nurture your film into the market place,” said Marr. “We are excited, and feel very fortunate, to have found that distributor in Strand. We look forward to working with Jon and Marcus and their team so that PASSENGER SIDE can reach the widest audience possible.”
Foreign sales are being handled by Mark Austin of Breakaway Media.
After recently being named one of “Canada’s Top Ten” films of 2009 by the Toronto International Film Festival, PASSENGER SIDE has been a hit on the festival circuit, including the Los Angeles Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Atlantic Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Whistler Film Festival and the Edmonton International Film Festival where it was awarded the ‘Citytv Award for Best Canadian Feature’.
Recently noted as one of “10 Young American Movie-Makers to Watch” by U.K.’s The Independent, Matthew Bissonnette, born and raised in Montreal now lives and makes movies out of his adopted home, Los Angeles. That city, along with rock music, played an integral part in inspiring the making of PASSENGER SIDE, as Bissonnette explains, “I learned to drive in Los Angeles, and so my first experience of the city was getting lost while listening to tapes in my old Toyota Camry wagon. After that car died, I inherited the 1975 BMW we used in Passenger Side, which also had a tape deck, so I brought those old cassettes along. Music is one of the few things I know much about, the other is brotherhood, so I put them in the car, and we were on our way, so to speak!”
PASSENGER SIDE stars Adam Scott (The Vicious Kind, Step Brothers, The Aviator, Knocked Up) as Michael; Joel Bissonnette (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Looking for Leonard, Zodiac) as Tobey and Robin Tunney (The Mentalist, The Burning Plain, August) as Theresa. Corey Marr (Who Loves the Sun) is Producer and Executive Producers are Adam Scott, Corey Marr and Matthew Bissonnette.
PASSENGER SIDE was produced in association with Telefilm Canada, The Movie Network and Movie Central.
Strand Releasing is based in Culver City California and is run by Gerrans and Hu. Currently in release is Catherine Breillat’s BLUEBEARD, Lou Ye’s SPRING FEVER, Florian Gallenberger’s JOHN RABE and upcoming films include Francois Ozon’s HIDEAWAY and Eyad Zahra’s TAQWACORES.
Strand Releasing plans for late 2010 release.
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