Toronto: Iervolino Entertainment Scores Sales on ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’

Italy’s Iervolino Entertainment is boasting a slew of international sales on Ciro Guerra-directed drama “Waiting for the Barbarians,” toplining Johnny Depp and starring Robert Pattinson, Mark Rylance, Gana Bayarsaikhan and Greta Scacchi.

The adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s prize-winning novel, which launched from Venice last year, has been sold by Iervolino’s AMBI Distribution unit to Germany (Constantin Film), France (SND),  CIS (Paradise), Middle East (Falcon Films), CEE (Vertical), Taiwan (Cai Chang International), Australia (Defiant), Latin America (Dreamgold), Turkey (Filmarti), and Scandinavia and Iceland, among other territories.

AMBI is now looking to close more deals during the Toronto Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday.

The film, which is an allegory of the war between oppressor and oppressed and sees Depp play the reactionary Colonel Joll, was originally slated by Samuel Goldwyn Films for a theatrical release in the U.S. However, due to COVID-19, it instead went out stateside on cable on-demand and digital platforms from last month.

A U.K. digital release for “Waiting for the Barbarians” saw it become the number one new release on iTunes and the number two overall film on the platform in Britain upon release this week. The Movie Partnership licensed the film for the U.K. and also closed a pay-TV deal with Sky.

AMBI Group, which is handling sales through its AMBI Distribution unit, is a consortium of film development, production, finance and distribution companies wholly owned and operated by Italian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi.

“Waiting for the Barbarians” is produced by Iervolino and Bacardi, and Michael Fitzgerald, and Olga Segura. Executive producers are Sir Martin Franklin, Cristina Gallego, Danielle Maloni, Deborah Dobson Bach, and Penelope Glass.

“There is a real sense of timeliness to this film that makes the audience reaction what it is,” Iervolino said in a statement, which also noted that the producers will be pursuing Academy Awards consideration campaigns in several categories for the film.