Strand Releasing has acquired all US rights to Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.” The deal was negotiated between Strand’s Jon Gerrans and Michael Weber of “Boonmee” sales agent The Match Factory.
“We’re thrilled to be working on this film and am so happy to continue our long and on-going relationship with both a colleague and friend that we call Joe,” said Marcus Hu of Strand Releasing in a statement. Weerasethakul is most commonly referred to as Joe in the film community, and Strand has released three of Weerasethakul’s previous films including “Blissfully Yours,” “Tropical Malady” and “Syndromes and a Century.”
“Uncle Boonmee” – which follows a man spending his final days surrounding by loved ones in the countryside – was enthusiastically received upon its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Palme d’Or scoring the highest on indieWIRE’s poll of critics and bloggers.
“Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has made a career out of directing movies that seem like dense visual riddles, matching poetry with mysterious cinematic designs,” indieWIRE‘s Eric Kohn wrote in his review. “However, while his earlier features often felt primarily energizing as intellectual exercises rather than creative pursuits, his latest work — ‘Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives’ — takes the identical approach into the delightful realm of fantasy.”
The film has been sold to more than 40 territories so far. Strand plans for a spring 2011 release for the U.S..
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