Film News Roundup: Cinema Guild Launches Virtual Cinema Initiative With Cannes Winner ‘Liberté’

In today’s film news roundup, Cinema Guild starts its virtual cinema initiative, Mucho Mas Media announces a partnership, Amazon hires a Netflix veteran and “Pot Luck” gets released.

VIRTUAL CINEMA

Cinema Guild is launching its virtual cinema initiative with 2019 Cannes Film Festival prize winner, Albert Serra’s “Liberté” in partnership with arthouse theaters.

“We’re grateful for the opportunity to continue our partnership with arthouse theaters and institutions around the country during this difficult time,” said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. “We’re also very happy that U.S. audiences won’t have to wait any longer to experience the audacity and artistry of Albert Serra’s singular vision.”

“Liberté” will launch May 1 in partnership with Film at Lincoln Center, and a national rollout will follow on May 8. The film premiered last year at Cannes, where it won a Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section.

Set just before the French Revolution, in a forest outside Berlin, the film follows a band of libertines expelled from the court of Louis XVI who meets with the legendary German seducer and freethinker, the Duc de Walchen (Helmut Berger), to convince him to join in their mission: the rejection of authority and all moral boundaries. What begins as an evening of strategizing on the proliferation of libertinage, descends into a Sadean night of pansexual one-upmanship.

PARTNERSHIP

Javier Chapa and Simon Wise’s Mucho Mas Media have announced a three-picture deal with Mexico’s Corazon Films.

Mucho Mas will finance and produce films for the Mexican-based distributor, with a strong focus on streaming rights and specialty theatrical releasing in the U.S. and Latin America. Projects will be shot in the U.S. and Mexico, made by and for the Latin audience and beyond.

The films in development are “Pet-Nup,” the story of a man, his beloved dog, and the ridiculous lengths he will go to protect their bond when a custody battle ensues; Alejandro Montoya’s “Tia Juana,” about a down-on-his-luck Latin man who take on the persona of his mom, Tia Juana, to get his girlfriend back; and Ángel Gracia’s “The Grass is Always Gringo,” a body-swap comedy about a humble Mexican worker his cantankerous boss.

AMAZON HIRE

Netflix marketing veteran Christian Davin will join Amazon Studios as the global head of movie marketing, reporting to Andy Donkin.

Davin will work closely with Amazon Studios Head Jennifer Salke, movies co-heads Ted Hope, Julie Rapaport and Matt Newman, and the entire movies team to design and execute all film campaigns.

He comes to Amazon from Netflix where he was the VP of Global Creative Marketing for Films. He oversaw the campaigns for “Roma,” “Bird Box,” “Dolemite Is My Name,” “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” “The Kissing Booth” and “The Irishman.” The news was first reported by Deadline.

RELEASE DATE

Marijuana documentary “Pot Luck” has become available on DigitalHD and DVD in North America from Giant Pictures, the digital film distribution division of Giant Interactive.

The release date of Pot Luck is timed to the unofficial marijuana “holiday” on April 20. “Pot Luck​” takes a road trip across the state of Colorado to find out what the new normal looks like five years after Colorado voted to legalize cannabis in all forms.

“Pot Luck” is a 3 Generations Production by Jane Wells.