Tom Grater/ Screen Daily
High Life, Claire Denis’ sci-fi drama starring Robert Pattinson, has been picked up for UK distribution by Thunderbird Releasing.
The film is Denis’ first English-language feature and follows a group of convicts assigned a difficult space mission in the belief they will be freed if they are successful. Juliette Binoche, Mia Goth and André Benjamin also star.
The deal was negotiated by Kevin Chan, acquisitions manager of Thunderbird Releasing, and Olivier Barbier from sales agent Wild Bunch. The film has been slated for a UK release in early 2019.
“It’s a hugely ambitious and daring project – and Denis is a director we’ve long admired,” commented Chan on the pick-up.
“[Thunderbird] showed both constant enthusiasm and motivation about the project since we presented it to them – this deal inscribes itself into an ongoing business relationship between our two companies,” added Barbier on the deal.
Producers on High Life were Laurence Clerc, Oliver Dungey, Christoph Friedel, Andrew Lauren, DJ Gugenheim, Claudia Steffen, Olivier Thery-Lapiney, and Klaudia Smeija.
Thunderbird also recently acquired Chekhov adaptation The Seagull, starring Saoirse Ronan, Annette Bening and Elisabeth Moss, following the film’s premiere at Tribeca.