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Strand Releasing has acquired North American rights to Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s “Cactus Pears” which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. The Indian gay drama will play at New Directors/New Films this week.
The film was the first Marathi language film to premiere at Sundance and first Indian fiction film to win the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for a Dramatic Film.
“Cactus Pears” follows Anand (Bhushaan Manoj), a young city dweller who returns to his family’s countryside home upon his father’s demise and must confront his family about being unmarried, there he finds solace with a farmer (Suraaj Suman) who shares his situation.
“We’re thrilled and proud to have ‘Cactus Pears,’ it’s a film with universal appeal, one that we thing will resonate here with audiences in North America,” said Marcus Hu of Strand Releasing.
The deal was done between Jon Gerrans of Strand Releasing and one of the film producers Neeraj Churi of Lotus Visual Productions. Strand plans for an active festival roll out for the film prior to a theatrical release this fall. The movie is set to play at the upcoming San Francisco festival and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria festival, among otgers.
“Cactus Pears” producers praised Strand Releasing for “their distinguished history of distributing Oscar-nominated films and official submissions for the Best International Feature Film category” which they said “underscores their commitment to exceptional cinema.”
“This story began in a quiet corner of India, and it’s moving to know it will now reach audiences around the world, in cinemas where it belongs,” the producer said a joint statement.
Paris-based MPM Premium has sold the film in most major territories around the world, including in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (Salzgeber) and Spain (Filmin).
Kanawade said the “feeling of knowing that a film so personal and special to us will be experienced by audiences worldwide is beyond words.” “When my producers and I set out to make this film, we had no idea what the future held for us, but we were hopeful,” he continued.
“Strand Releasing has long been a champion of art house and queer cinema, bringing the works of filmmakers I deeply admire—like Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Céline Sciamma—to audiences. Having them come on board to distribute ‘Sabar Bonda’ (‘Cactus Pears’) in North America is one of the best things to happen after the Sundance win.’
Founded by Marie-Pierre Macia and Jean-Charles Mille, MPM Premium has been supporting queer cinema, such as Kenyan drama Wanuri Kahiu’s “Rafiki” and the Portuguese choral film “Wolf and Dog” by Cláudia Varejão. MPM Premium is now in negotiations to close France, the U.K., Scandinavia, among other territories, on “Cactus Pears.”
“‘All We Imagine As Light’ and ‘Santosh’ have created a momentum for Indian independent cinema that has the interest from international buyers, but it’s truly because ‘Cactus Pears’ is a touching and hopeful great modern love story that international audiences will respond to it,” said Worthington, MPM Premium’s head of sales.
“Cactus Pears” is an India, UK, Canada co-production with Neeraj Churi, Mohamed Khaki, Kaushik Ray, Naren Chandavarkar and Sidharth Meer as producers; Jim Sarbh as co-producer and Ilann Gigard as Exec producer.
Strand Releasing’s current films in release include Christophe Honore’s “Marcello Mio,” Rithy Panh’s “Meeting With Pol Pot,” and Trương Minh Quý’s “Viet And Nam,” among others.
