Strand Releasing Picks Up Controversial Austrian Film

Indie distributor Strand Releasing has acquired all US rights to Austrian director Markus Schleinzer’s controversial film MICHAEL. The film, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and its North American Premiere last month at the Toronto International Film Festival, is an intense drama that focuses on the last five months of a ten-year-old boy’s life under the control of a child molestorwho keeps him locked away in a room in a basement. This is the debut feature for Schleinzer whose previous efforts as a casting director include such art house gems as LOVELY RITA, DOG DAYS, THE PIANO TEACHER, THE WHITE RIBBON and WOMEN WITHOUT MEN. MICHAEL will be released in February 2012. Strand Releasing’s slate for this year includes Philippe LeGuay’s THE WOMEN ON THE 6th FLOOR, Claude and Nathan Miller’s I’M GLAD MY MOTHER IS ALIVE, Danis Tanovic’s CIRKUS COLUMBIA and Tom Tykwer’s 3.

FFT Webmaster

The FFT Webmaster use displays whenever an article has multiple authors. It also pops up on articles from old versions of Film Festival Today. The original author byline might be missing! In that case, if you are the author of such an article and see this bio instead of your own, please send us an email. Some of our contributors that might be missing bylines are: Brad Balfour, Laura Blum, and Sandy Mandelberger, among others.