Neon, Double Agent & Film4 Partner On Genre-Bending Doc ‘2073’ From Oscar Winner Asif Kapadia

Matt Grobar
·4 min read
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Neon, Double Agent and Film4 are partnering to co-finance and exec produce 2073, a new documentary from Academy Award and BAFTA-winning director Asif Kapadia (Amy).

2073 is billed as a genre-bending thriller set in a dystopian future, which will tackle some of the biggest challenges imperiling our future. The project is inspired by Chris Marker’s iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée — about a time traveler who risks his life to change the course of history and save the future of humanity — which previously served as the basis for Terry Gilliam’s sci-fi pic 12 Monkeys, with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt.

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Kapadia and George Chignell are producing. Davis Guggenheim, Nicole Stott and Jonathan Silberberg will exec produce on behalf of Concordia Studio, alongside Riz Ahmed’s Left Handed Films.

Said Kapadia: “I want to make an epic about the state of the world, using elements of science fiction as a lens through which to examine the huge questions we are facing as a species, and hopefully find solutions, before it’s too late.”

“We bet on filmmakers, and Asif is among the very best out there,” remarked Double Agent President, Dana O’Keefe. “His track record really speaks for itself as he consistently delivers unparalleled storytelling, so this is a truly formidable team between NEON, Film4, Concordia, and Left Handed. We are all proud to be joining forces on this innovative, bold and unconventional look at the future.”

“Asif is a consistently ground-breaking filmmaker who we’ve been lucky enough to work with on a number of his previous films,” added Film4 Director, Ollie Madden. “This new project, a documentary-style vision of the future, as terrifying as it is an urgent call to action, had us immediately hooked. We can’t wait to see what Asif and his expert team create.”

Kapadia is a writer, director and producer best known for his acclaimed films Amy, Senna and Diego Maradona, which have premiered at the Cannes, Venice, Telluride and Sundance film festivals. The multi-hyphenate’s debut fiction feature The Warrior, starring the late Irrfan Khan, won two BAFTA Film Awards. He most recently was the director and executive producer of the Apple TV+ series 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything, and reunites on 2073 with his regular creative team, including editor Chris King and composer Antonio Pinto. Kapadia won his Oscar for the Amy Winehouse doc Amy in 2016 and has also been recognized over the course of his career with four BAFTAs, a Grammy and a European Film Award, among other accolades.

Neon is a production and distribution company that in just five years, has garnered 18 Academy Award nominations and five wins, including Best Picture, seeing its films gross over $180M at the box office. The company recently acquired Laura Poitras’ documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and Brett Morgen’s genre-defying David Bowie pic, Moonage Daydream. Other critically-acclaimed documentaries from Neon include: Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov’s Academy Award-nominated and record-breaking Honeyland; Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11; Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee, which made history as the first film to score a trifecta of Academy Award nominations across Best Documentary, Animated and International Feature; Tim Wardle’s Three Identical Strangers; and Fire of Love, which recently became this year’s biggest documentary release.

First announced back in May, Double Agent is a joint venture created by Black Bear Pictures and New Regency which produces and finances premium non-fiction content spanning all genres and formats for a global audience.

The feature film division of Channel 4 Television, Film4’s recent releases include Julia Ducournau’s Titane, Jonathan Butterell’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Rebecca Hall’s Passing, Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, Will Sharpe’s The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Aml Ameen’s Boxing Day, Eva Husson’s Mothering Sunday, Michael Pearce’s Encounter, Prano Bailey-Bond’s Censor, the documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin from Peter Middleton and James Spinney, and Jim Archer’s Brian & Charles. Forthcoming titles include Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, Steve McQueen’s Occupied City, Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men, Florian Zeller’s The Son, Oliver Hermanus’ Living and Soudade Kaadan’s Nezouh.

The deal for 2073 was negotiated by Jeff Deutchman, Stefanie Fahrion, Michael Heimler, Don McNicholl, O’Keefe and Eric Sloss. Kapadia is represented by lawyers Carlos K. Goodman, Hannah Mulderink, and Jacqueline Hurt, as well as Independent Talent Group, WME and Cinetic Media.

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