More sales, festival bookings for The Rocket
13 September, 2013 by Don Groves
Exposure at numerous festivals including Berlin, Tribeca, Melbourne and Sydney combined with rave reviews continues to pay off for Kim Mordaunt's Laos-set feature The Rocket.
Tine Klint of international sales agent LevelK has concluded a slew of sales after negotiating a US deal with Kino Lorber during the Cannes film market.
Among the territories that have acquired the film are the UK (Eureka), China (JY Entertainment), Israel (Lev Cinemas), Middle Eastern countries (Moving Turtle), Taiwan (Flash Forward Entertainment), Slovenia (RTV Slovenia), Poland (Spectator) and Turkey (Kurmaca Films).
"I am very proud of The Rocket – a brilliant film. It keeps winning everywhere it shows," she tells IF. The film, which is Australia's submission for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards, has earned a healthy $240,000 in its first two weeks in Oz, playing on 13 screens.
Kino Lorber plans a November launch in US cinemas. The plot revolves around a boy, Ahlo (10-year-old Sitthiphon Disamoe) a twin, who fears he is cursed because his tribe is convinced twins bring bad luck. To try to disprove that belief, he sets out to build a giant rocket to compete in the Rocket Festival.
The film has screened at more than 15 festivals and has been booked by upcoming fests in Busan, Hawaii, London, Helsinki, Milan and Oostende. Adding to its cupboard full of trophies, it won the awards for best film, screenplay and for Andrew Commis' cinematography at this week's Kosovo Film Festival.
"There are also a few other top festivals where The Rocket will be screening soon including in competition at some very good fests," said the producer, Sylvia Wilczynski of Red Lamp Films. "They will be excellent launch pads for the film in some big territories and hopefully will lead to some sales there."
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