Giant Pictures Takes U.S. Theatrical, VOD Rights To Oscar-Nominated Documentary ‘A House Made Of Splinters’
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EXCLUSIVE: Giant Pictures today announced it has acquired U.S. theatrical and VOD rights to the Oscar-nominated documentary feature A House Made of Splinters, a film that until very recently lacked any American distribution.
Giant plans to release Simon Lereng Wilmont’s film, which focuses on children living in a Ukrainian shelter, on digital platforms on February 21, including Apple TV and Prime Video. It will be released on the big screen at select Alamo Drafthouse theaters beginning in March. In a separate announcement last month, the PBS documentary series POV picked up broadcast rights for the film, with plans to premiere it over the summer as part of the program’s 36th season.
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Wilmont (The Distant Barking of Dogs) shot A House Made of Splinters in Eastern Ukraine before Russia’s full-scale invasion a year ago. The region for years had been roiled by a Russian-backed separatist movement, placing enormous stress on Ukrainian civilians, which led to skyrocketing rates of unemployment, alcoholism and drug abuse. Children, abandoned or neglected by their parents, became trapped in this desperate quagmire. Courts that seized custody of such vulnerable kids sent them to institutions like the temporary orphanage where Wilmont made his film.
“A House Made of Splinters is a devastating yet hopeful portrait of Ukrainian children caught in events beyond their control,” said Giant Pictures general manager Nick Savva. “Giant Pictures is proud to bring this powerful Academy Award®-nominated documentary from Simon Lereng Wilmont to audiences across the U.S.”
The deal announced today was negotiated by Madeleine Schumacher, head of content for Giant Pictures and Cinephil’s Olivier Tournaud on behalf of the filmmakers.
Heart-wrenching Eva, Sasha and Kolya occupy center stage in the documentary. “I was drawn to Eva because of the look in her eye,” Wilmont previously told Deadline. “It had both sadness and joy, and she was doing these cartwheels all the time. And sometimes it seemed like that was her way of getting the anger out, and sometimes it was to celebrate how happy she was.”
As for Sasha, “She seemed to be living in her own little world. But contrary to a lot of the other kids when they arrived, she didn’t seem unhappy to be there,” the director said. “On the contrary, she seemed very curious as to what was happening around her.”
Kolya evinces a tough exterior and bends the rules at the shelter. But he sweetly cares for his younger siblings, also housed at the orphanage. “If I was still a boy at 14, that’s the guy I would hang out with,” Wilmont observed. “You’re absolutely sure that you would be going on adventures. They might be dangerous at times, but they will always be interesting.”
Monica Hellstrøm produced the film, a production of Denmark’s Final Cut for Real. Signe Byrge Sørensen and Philippa Kowarsky are executive producers. Azad Safarov is the line producer.
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