IFC Midnight Picks Up Former Alchemy Feature ‘Evolution’

IFC Midnight has announced today their acquisition of the North American rights to Lucile Hadžihalilović’s festival favorite “Evolution.” The film was originally acquired by Alchemy in August of last year, but the distributor’s continued troubles have impacted their ability to release their current slate of films, and most of their biggest titles, including “The Lobster,” have been snapped up by other distribution outlets. 

The atmospheric feature premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Vanguard section. It is playing this week at New York’s own New Directors/New Films festival. With a screenplay by Hadžihalilović & Alanté Kavaïté, in collaboration with Geoff Cox, the film stars Max Brebant, Roxane Duran and Julie-Marie Parmentier. Per its appropriately slim official synopsis, it follows “a young boy living in a mysterious, isolated seaside clinic uncovers the sinister purposes of his keepers, in this mesmerizing blend of body horror and surreal fantasy.” There’s a lot more to it, but part of the joy of watching the film comes from the surprises and realizations it doles out in firm measure.

READ MORE: How the DVD Business Is Destroying Alchemy

The film was produced by Sylvie Pialat, Jérôme Vidal and Benoît Quainon and was executive produced by Pialat. The deal was negotiated by Wild Bunch on behalf of the filmmakers.

IFC Midnight has recently released a number of genre hits, including “The Babadook” and “Room 237.” There is no word yet on an official release date.

Check out a trailer for the IFC Midnight release “The Babadook” below.