“Peter Hujar’s Day,” which premiered at this year’s Sundance, has sold to Sideshow and Janus Films. It’s one of the few projects to land a buyer out of the festival so far.
Written and directed by Ira Sachs, “Peter Hujar’s Day” is set over a 24-hour period in December 1974 and centers on one conversation between photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) and his close friend, writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall), who recorded their talk for an art project. Hujar, who died of AIDS in 1987, only became celebrated as an artist after his death.
The film debuted in Park City to positive reviews, with Variety’s Owen Gleiberman calling it a “magical 1974 time capsule of a movie.” In his review, he wrote that “in its tiny-scaled staged-documentary way, ‘Peter Hujar’s Day’ is exquisitely done and arresting to watch.”
“Peter Hujar’s Day” will screen at the Berlin Film Festival before Sideshow and Janus Films give the film a fall theatrical release.
“Sideshow and Janus Films represent a commitment to the kind of cinema that has meant the most to me, as audience and as filmmaker,” Sachs, the filmmaker of “Passages,” “Keep the Lights on” and “Love Is Strange,” said in a statement. “To be a part of their future makes me feel both young and old, and full of hope both for this film and for the movies.”
The deal was negotiated by Sideshow and Janus Films with WME Independent. SBS will be handling international sales for the film. “Peter Hujar’s Day” was produced by Jordan Drake and Jonah Disend and co-produced by Fred Burle and Aaron Craig.
Sideshow and Janus Films began working together four years ago and have acquired such films as Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar-winning “Drive My Car” and Jerzy Skolimowski’s Academy Award-nominated drama “EO.” The two companies recently collaborated on the animated adventure “Flow,” which scored two Oscar nods in addition to becoming their highest-grossing film at the box office with $14.4 million.
“Our team fell in love with ‘Peter Hujar’s Day’ immediately. With its deceptively minimal premise, Ira Sachs has crafted a deeply profound, major work,” Sideshow and Janus Films said in a statement. “This film illustrates the way we live in the past and present, pondering the mysterious, remarkable nature of time. ‘Peter Hujar’s Day’ lingers with a magical, unprecedented sense of what storytelling on film can be.”
