Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut has already made a big impact with her Sundance Film Festival debut – and the film is expected to make even more noise as Netflix is approaching a $ 16 million deal for worldwide distribution rights of the film, an individual with knowledge of the business Variety.
Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga star in the project, based on the 1929 novel by Nella Larsen and adapted by Hall, about the racial passage in New York of the 1920s.
“Passando” was one of the most popular titles that arrived at the festival, with Endeavor Content taking care of the sales of the film. The film features a starring cast (André Holland, Alexander Skarsgård and Bill Camp also star in the film) and, after its well-evaluated debut, a considerable acquisition agreement was expected.
Located in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance, Irene (Thompson) and Clare (Negga) are two mixed-race women, childhood friends, who meet again in adulthood, discovering that they now live on two different sides of the color line, with Clare “passing ”So white. As the lives of the two women become more intertwined, the narrative turns inward, taking a look at the complicated nature of racial identity and how we are all impacted by the way the world sees us.
Hall’s film, which also features Gbenga Akinnagbe, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy and Ashley Ware Jenkins, premiered on Saturday as part of the U.S. Dramatic Competition schedule for the 2021 Sundance virtual edition.
Netflix is not sloppy when it comes to purchasing big tickets in Park City (whether the festival is held in person or virtually). At last year’s festival, the streamer picked up the winner of the director’s award “The Forty-Year-Old Version”, by writer, director and star Radha Blank, in a seven-digit contract. The film won the honors of Gotham, Independent Spirit and AFI, as well as a place on the National Board of Review’s list of best films. Netflix also acquired Jeff Orlowski’s documentary “The Social Dilemma” and had previously acquired “His House”, the heady horror film by rookie Remi Weeks, before its debut at the festival.
“Passing” is produced by Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Margot Hand and Hall. Thompson and Negga are among the executive producers of the film, along with Oren Moverman, Angela Robinson, Erika Hampson, Michael Y. Chow, Kevin A. Lin, Lauren Dark, Daniel Battsek, Ollie Madden, Brenda Robinson, Chaz Ebert, Yvonne Huff, Christopher Liu, Arcadiy Golubovich, Dori A. Rath, Joseph J. Restaino, David Gendron and Ali Jazayeri.
The deadline was the first to report news of the impending deal for “Passing”.