Paradise City Sales (rebranded from Memento International) has closed more deals for “The Ugly Stepsister,” Emilie Blichfeldt’s Cinderella-inspired horror film that premiered at Sundance and turned out to be one of the festival’s buzziest titles.
Previously acquired in a raft of territories, including North America, the U.K. and Australia/New Zealand with Shudder, “The Ugly Stepsister” was acquired for Benelux and Turkey (Mubi), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Greece (The Film Group), Ex- Yugoslavia (Discovery Films), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Bionaut / Zero Gravity), Ukraine (Svoekino), Bulgaria (Beta Film), South Korea (Happy Song), Taiwan (Filmware International), Singapore (Shaw Organisation), Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos (EST N8) and Africa (What the Hero Wants). Paradise City Sales, whose team is led by Alexandre Moreau, is in negotiations to close the Middle East and India.
“The Ugly Stepsister” follows Elvira as she prepares to earn the prince’s affection at any cost. In a kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira will compete with the beautiful and enchanting Agnes to become the belle of the ball. Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Naess and Ane Dahl Torp star.
Mer Film and Scanbox will release it in Scandinavia. Paradise City Sales has also now sold it to ESC FIlms (France), Capelight (Germany and Austria), Beta Films (Spain), Lev Cinema (Israel), ADS (Hungary), Cay Films (Romania), Cine Canibal (Latin America), New Select (Japan), House of M (Thailand), PT Falcon (Indonesia), Estin Film (Baltics) and Vendetta Filmes (Portugal). Negotiations are reportedly ongoing in Italy, Greece and Ukraine, among others.
“The Ugly Stepsister” is produced by Maria Ekerhovd in Norway for Mer Film (“The Innocents,” “War Sailor,” Joachim Trier’s upcoming feature “Sentimental Value”). It is co-produced by Lizette Jonjic for Zentropa Sweden (“Another Round”), Mariusz Włodarski for Poland’s Lava Films (“The Girl with The Needle,” “Sweat”), Theis Nørgaard for Denmark’s Motor (“The Dead Don’t Hurt”), Zefyr and Film i Väst. With support from the Norwegian Film Institute, the Polish Production Incentive and the Polish Film Institute, the Swedish Film Institute, the Danish Film Institute, Eurimages, DR, Nordisk Film & Tv Fond.
