"Valentino" to Expand with Vitagraph, Truly Indie and Filmmakers

A scene from Matt Tyrnauer's "Valentino: The Last Emperor." Image courtesy of film's official website.

Matt Tyrnauer's award-winning Valentino The Last Emperor is expanding into 14 additional markets, with more markets to follow via a collaborative partnership, orchestrated by Submarine's Josh Braun, between Truly Indie, Vitagraph Films and the filmmakers - director and producer Matt Tyrnauer, executive producer Carter Burden III, producer Matt Kapp, and co-producer Frederic Tcheng. The film has grossed $176,183 since opening on March 18, and took in $56,783 with a $14,196 per screen average on four screens the weekend of April 3. The film is hte highest grossing opening weekend U.S. doc of 2009.

"Valentino The Last Emperor" is a feature-length film on the legendary designer Valentino Garavani in the wake of his exit in 2008 from the company he founded in Rome more than 45 years ago. The film details the colorful and dramatic closing act of Valentino's celebrated career, tells the story of his extraordinary life and work, and also explores the larger themes affecting the fashion business today. The crux of "Valentino" is the unique relationship between Valentino and his business partner and companion of 50 years, Giancarlo Giammetti.

"We appreciate the work Truly Indie and the filmmakers have done to launch the film and are pleased to be able to take a film that has garnered such an exuberant public reception, to people in many more cities," commented David Shultz, president of Vitagraph Films in a statement. Vitagraph is currently working on the distribution of "Tokyo!" "Explicit Ills," and "Mysteries of Pittsburgh."