IFC Midnight has taken U.S. rights to director Anne Hamilton’s feature debut, American Fable, which debuted at SXSW in March, writes THR .
Here’s what Trace wrote about the film out of the SXSW premiere:
My day job overtook my morning again, but mid-afternoon saw me at a screening for Anne Hamiton’s debut feature ‘American Fable’. I liked it well enough, but it didn’t leave much of an impression. It clearly drew a lot of inspiration from Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, as it tells the tale of an 11-year-old girl named Gitty who discovers that her father is hiding a wealthy man in her family’s silo in order to save their struggling farm, she is forced to choose between saving the man’s life or protecting her family from the consequences of their actions. It’s a 3/5 for me (beautifully shot with some strong performances, but the script leaves a lot to be desired), but it didn’t really have any horror elements so I opted not to review it.
American Fable is set in the 1980s rural Midwest where an imaginative girl named Gitty is forced to choose between protecting her family’s secret and saving a man’s life. Newcomer Peyton Kennedy plays Gitty, and the film also stars Kip Pardue, Richard Schiff, Gavin Macintosh, Rusty Schwimmer, Zuleikha Robinson and Marci Miller.
IFC Midnight plans to release the fairytale thriller in winter 2017.
“For my first feature, I wanted to pay tribute to where I grew up and the films I loved as a kid,” Hamilton said Tuesday in a statement. “This movie has been a labor of love, and I’m delighted that it has found a home with IFC Midnight because they showed a deep appreciation of the visuals of the storytelling. I can’t wait for people to see American Fable on the big screen.”
Kishori Rajan and Hamilton produced, while Kevin Harrington executive produced.