Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has boarded international sales for Marie Losier’s documentary feature “Peaches Goes Bananas” ahead of its world premiere at the Venice Days sidebar running alongside the film festival.
For “Peaches Goes Bananas,” Losier followed Merrill Nisker — the trailblazing feminist queer icon, musician and producer known as Peaches — off and on stage. An intimate portrait, the documentary showcases Peaches’ concerts, her bond with her sister Suri and her creative process.
Losier is best known for directing critically lauded documentaries including “The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye,” which won the Teddy Award at the Berlinale in 2011; “Cassandro El Exotico!,” winner of the Cannes ACID section in 2018; and “Felix in Wonderland,” which had its world premiere in Locarno in 2019. Losier’s work has also been celebrated with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2018, where all her films were acquired for the museum’s archives; as well as at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Paris a year later.
In a statement, Peaches said: “There was a special feeling between Marie and I from the moment we met — a comfort, a joy, a creative force, a knowing. Marie’s style is all her own and I love her for that. There are such sacred moments captured on film that I will always cherish, especially since the passing of my sister and my father.”
Marc Nauleau, Best Friend Forever’s head of festivals, said Losier’s “vision is unique, and you’ll discover Peaches as you’ve never seen her before, as much the artist on stage as the woman behind.” He added that “the film is a cinematic proposition worthy of its subject, a beautiful encounter between two queens.”
“Peaches Goes Bananas” is produced by Carole Chassaing at Tamara Films (“Cassandro El Exotico!”), Sébastien Andres and Alice Lemaire at Michigan Films (“The Damned,” “It’s Raining in the House”). Norte Distribution will release the film in France while Galeries Distribution will roll it out in Belgium.
Best Friend Forever’s fall slate also includes Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award winner “Universal Language” by Matthew Rankin and Berlinale competition selection and Locarno-bound “Shambhala” by Min Bahadur Bham.
Peaches has been honored with the Polaris Heritage Prize, and has featured in movies and TV shows including “Lost in Translation,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Broad City” and “Sex Education.” She has also participated in prominent art events including Art Basel Miami and the Venice Biennale.
