Yahoo Finance Rithy Panh’s ‘Irradiated’ Scooped by Strand Releasing For U.S. (EXCLUSIVE)
Strand Releasing has acquired all U.S. rights to Oscar-nominated Cambodian director Rithy Panh’s “Irradiated,” which world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won best documentary. The film is represented in international markets by Playtime.
Through “Irradiated,” Panh sheds light on the human horrors perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge regime which he experienced during his childhood. Narrated by Rebecca Marder (“Someone, Somewhere”) and André Wilms (“Le Havre”), the film brings together black-and-white archival war footage across a tryptic of panels juxtaposing images of war and suffering across the 20th century and around the world. The cinematic documentary is scored by Panh’s longtime collaborator Marc Marder.
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“What it means to be a survivor cannot be put into words. To live on, to make contact with this irradiation, for which there may be no cause, no knowledge, but from which there is no protection,” said Panh about his film. “Evil radiates. It hurts — even later generations. But beyond this pain lies innocence.”
“We’re thrilled to be collaborating again with Rithy, a dear friend of our company and the importance of his work is undeniable in the global landscape of cinema,” said Marcus Hu of Strand Releasing. The company plans for a fall 2021 release. The deal was struck between Jon Gerrans of Strand Releasing and Nicolas Brigaud-Robert of Playtime.
“Irradiated” was produced by Catherine Dussart, and co-produced by Panh, Emmanuel Migeot and Clémence Coppey.
Strand Releasing previously collaborated with Panh and Dussart on “The Missing Picture,” which was nominated for a foreign-language Oscar in 2014. Strand also acquired Panh’s short film “Exile.”
“I am very happy to come back in the Strand Releasing family, a family of cinema dear to my heart,” said Panh.
The revered filmmaker also served as producer to Angelina Jolie’s “First They Killed My Father” in 2017, and recently contributed an original short film to commemorate Strand Releasing’s 30th anniversary in 2019.
Strand Releasing is based in Culver City and run by Gerrans and Hu. The banner’s current slate includes Maryam Touzani’s “Adam,” Anthony Chen’s “The Wet Season,” Agnieszka Holland’s “Charlatan” and Majid Majidi’s “Sun Children.”
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