Cinema Guild Acquires LAVIATHAN Documentary

The Cinema Guild announced today the acquisition of U.S. distribution rights to LEVIATHAN the acclaimed new documentary from Lucien Castaing-Taylor ("Sweetgrass," also released by Cinema Guild) and Véréna Paravel ("Foreign Parts"). "Leviathan" will screen next week at the Toronto Film Festival and will have its US premiere as an Official Selection of the New York Film Festival. It will open theatrically in early 2013.

In the very waters where Melville's Pequod gave chase to Moby Dick, "Leviathan" captures the collaborative clash of man, nature, and machine. Shot on a dozen cameras - tossed and tethered, passed from fisherman to filmmaker - it is a cosmic portrait of one of mankind's oldest endeavors.

"'Leviathan' is unlike any film we have ever seen. It is a bracing, daring and highly original work that demands to be seen on the big screen. We can't wait for audiences to experience it," commented Ryan Krivoshey. "We very much look forward to working with our friends Lucien and Verena on the release of their extraordinary film."

Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor are filmmakers, artists, and anthropologists, who work at the sensory ethnography lab at Harvard University. Their work is in the Permanent Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the British Museum, and has been screened at festivals, museums and galleries worldwide. Paravel's previous films include "Foreign Parts" (2010, with J.P. Sniadecki), "Interface Series" (2009-10) and "7 Queens" (2008), and Castaing-Taylor's "Hell Roaring Creek" (2010), "The High Trail" (2010), "Sweetgrass" (2009, with Ilisa Barbash), "In and Out of Africa" (2001, with Barbash), and "Made In USA (1990, with Barbash).

The deal was negotiated by Ryan Krivoshey of The Cinema Guild with Lucien Castaing-Taylor.

The Cinema Guild recently acquired "Night Across The Street," the final film from master filmmaker Raul Ruiz, which will have its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

Upcoming Cinema Guild releases include Paul Lacoste's "Step Up To The Plate" and Ra'anan Alexandrowicz's "The Law In These Parts." Recent releases include Kleber Mendonca Filho's "Neighboring Sounds," Seung-Jun Yi's "Planet of Snail," Hong Sangsoo's "The Day He Arrives," Bela Tarr's "The Turin Horse" and Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia."