Lorber Locks "Manero" For U.S. Release

A scene from "Tony Manero."

Richard Lorber closed a deal this week at the European Film Market in Berlin for Pablo Larrain's "Tony Manero," a Cannes Film Festival '08 title that he considered a highlight of October's New York Film Festival. He is planning an April or May '09 release under his new Lorber Films label (with more details to be announced soon). Lorber made a pact for all U.S. rights to the movie, securing TV after HBO Latino's 18 month window.

Larrain's "Manero," the filmmaker's second feature, was described by the New York Film Festival as, "a rough-hewn verite-style dance-musical about a 50-something psychotic with inextinguishable dreams of disco glory. On the other, it’s a darkly comic allegory about the spell cast by American pop culture during the grimmest days of General Pinochet’s police state."

The film, Chile's submission for Oscar foreign language consideration, had a "disturbing, demonic impact when I first saw it...despite all efforts to shed the memory," Richard Lorber told indieWIRE, citing its, "brewing a profound metaphor out of the fusion of politics and pop culture."

Lorber made the deal with Peter Danner, president of Funny Balloons.