Strand Plans Summer U.S. Release for "The Bubble"

Strand Releasing has announced its deal for all U.S. rights to Eytan Fox's "The Bubble," which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and is having its Panorama section debut tonight (Saturday) at the Berlin International Film Festival. Exploring the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and set in Israel, the film is described as the story of three men and a woman, "whose lives become intertwined in a story that tracks their loves and the complexities of life in Israel today." Produced and co-written by Gal Uchovsky, longtime collaborator with Fox, the film is the duo's follow-up to "Walk On Water" and "Yossi and Jagger," both of which screened here at the Berlinale. Strand will release the movie in August and plans to pursue Jewish and gay audiences for the movie. Company co-president Jon Gerrans negotiated the deal with Pierre Menahem of Scalpel Films. "'The Bubble' is our most ambitious work yet, and it needed great care," said Uchovsky in a statement, " We are thrilled to work with Strand again. We had a great experience with them doing Yossi & Jagger and we believe 'The Bubble' has found it's right home. This movie, as we have seen in Israel, works great with young and urban audiences as well as the traditional art house buffs. And we believe Marcus (Hu), Jon (Gerrans) and their team, will know how to bring all those diverse crowds to the theaters". [Eugene Hernandez]