Film News Roundup: Sundance Horror Movie ‘Amulet’ Bought By Magnet for July Release

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – In today’s film news roundup, Romola Garai’s “Amulet” and crime drama ”Punching And Stealing” find homes and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival unveils a digital edition.

ACQUISITIONS

Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired North American rights to the horror movie “Amulet,” the feature directorial debut of actress-turned-filmmaker Romola Garai.

The film, starring Carla Juri, Alec Secareanu, Imelda Staunton and Angeliki Papoulia, premiered in January in the Midnight section at Sundance. Magnet plans to release the film in theaters and on demand July 24.

“Amulet’ follows a former soldier who is left homeless after an accident and takes refuge in the decaying home of a lonely young woman in desperate need of help as she cares for her ailing mother. As he gets closer to and begins to fall in love with the young women, he notices strange and unexplainable phenomena.

“Amulet” is produced by Matthew James Wilkinson of Stigma Films and Maggie Monteith of Northern Stories. Executive producers are Phil Hunt and Compton Ross of Head Gear and Metrol Technology, James Norrie, Bob Portal, Inderpal Singh of AMP International, Damian Jones, Chris Reed, Phil Rymer, Reinhard Besser, Pat Wintersgill and Walter Mair. The deal was negotiated by Magnolia’s Dori Begley and John Von Thaden with James Norrie and Nina Kolokouri of AMP International and 30West on behalf of the filmmakers.

AMP International has also sold the film in German speaking Europe (Ascot Elite), Latin America (Imagem), CIS (MGM), Scandinavia (Non-Stop), Thailand (SahaMongkol), Indonesia (Cinemaxx), Middle East (Front Row), Philippines (Pioneer), Malaysia (SquareBox), Greece (Odeon), Taiwan (Movie Cloud).

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Gravitas Venures has bought crime drama ”Punching And Stealing,” the second feature film from Second City Conservatory Alumni writer/director Ryan Churchill, with plans for a June 2 release on VOD/digital and DVD.

”Punching And Stealing,” set in Las Vegas, centers on Churchill’s jaded IT coordinator who takes the law into his own hands against white collar financial criminals by joining an underground vigilante faction. The cast includes Mel Rodriguez, Jenny Vilim, Janina Gavankar, Joelle Carter, Maurice Compte, Matt Iseman, and Linc Hand.

”Punching And Stealing” is a Churchie Prods film directed by Churchill and co-director Danny Parker-Lopes, produced by Parker-Lopes and Andy Bates. Churchill negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers with Brett Rogalsky, on behalf of Gravitas Ventures.

FILM FESTIVAL

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival will present a digital edition of its films on June 11-20, co-presented by Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center in New York.

The full slate of films will be announced on May 14. The festival plans to return to Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center next year and beyond. Its opening night film will be Erika Cohn’s “Belly of the Beast,” an expose of human rights abuses of women in the criminal justice system.

The preliminary line up includes “The 8th,” “Coded Bias,” “Down a Dark Stairwell,” “From Here,” “I am Samuel,” “Maxima” and “Radio Silence.”