IFC has been on its annual late Spring buying spree. Its latest pick-up is Brandon Cronenberg’s debut feature “Antiviral,” which had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival last month. The indie distributor picked up U.S. rights for its IFC Midnight label Wednesday.
The acquisition comes on the heels of IFC grabbing Jeremy Power Regimbal’s Tribeca fest thriller “Replicas” for IFC Midnight and Lucy Mulloy’s Tribeca fest winner “Una Noche” for sister division Sundance Selects. IFC’s Cannes collection also includes “Sightseers,” “The Taste of Money,” “Like Someone in Love,” “The Angels’ Share” and “On the Road.”
Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Douglas Smith and Malcolm McDowell star in “Antiviral,” about a world where fans can buy injections of viruses harvested from sick celebrities. When a clinic employee who smuggles the viruses onto the black market becomes infected, he must solve the mystery of a starlet’s death to save his own life. Niv Fichman of Rhombus Media produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada and the OMDC.
“‘Antiviral’ is a stunningly smart debut from Brandon Cronenberg, who is greatly aided by his strong stars Caleb Landry Jones and Sarah Gadon, as well as Karim Hussain’s cinematography,” said Sundance Selects/IFC Films president Jonathan Sehring. “The film manages to skewer our culture’s obsession with celebrity while also delivering more than a fair share of chills and gruesome body horror.”
Sundance Selects/IFC Films exec Arianna Bocco negotiated the deal with Gregory Chambet of TF1 International on behalf of the filmmakers. Alliance Films will release the film in Canada and by Momentum Pictures in the UK.
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