Sundance: Monterey Media Acquires ‘I Used To Be Darker’
EXCLUSIVE: The Sundance Film Festival ended yesterday, but there will be a flood of deals that continue for the next few weeks, leading into Berlin. Monterey Media has acquired I Used To Be Darker, the third film by rising writer/director Matthew Porterfield. The deal comes as the filmmaker prepares for the film to be featured in the Forum section of the Berlin festival next month. Porterfield previously directed Hamilton and Putty Hill. (Full press release follows below.)
Related: Sundance Awards 2013: ‘Fruitvale’ & ‘Blood Brother’ Win Grand Jury
Porterfield wrote the script with Amy Belk and the film stars Deragh Campbell, Hannah Gross, Kim Taylor, Ned Oldham, Geoff Grace and Nick Petr. It premiered Saturday at the Yarrow Hotel Theatre, and focused on a runaway who seeks refuge with her aunt and uncle in Baltimore. There she finds their marriage is ending and her cousin is in crisis. In the days that follow, the family struggles to let go while searching for things to sustain them.
Monterey Media’s Scott Mansfield and Paradigm’s Nick LoPiccolo and Ben Weiss brokered the deal. Monterey Media picked up Keyhole at Toronto and released the Monte Hellman-directed Road to Nowhere.
January 27, 2013 – Sundance Film Festival premiere I Used To Be Darker has been acquired by monterey media for U.S. & Canada distribution. Negotiated by monterey media’s Scott Mansfield with Nick LoPiccolo and Ben Weiss of Paradigm, monterey is planning a Summer theatrical release.
Greeted with critical praise at Sundance, I Used To Be Darker marks rising writer/director Matthew Porterfield’s third feature film, following his impressive debut feature Hamilton and the highly regarded Putty Hill.
I Used To Be Darker at Sundance:
“Best of Sundance” praise from Anthony Kaufman on Indiewire:
“Matthew Porterfield’s I Used To Be Darker is another true original, with a handful of singular moments that bare the emotional soul of its characters. Porterfield successfully
conveys the cathartic nature of art by creating it.”Selected as One of “Three Excellent Sundance Films” by New Yorker film editor, Richard Brody
“The best movie I’ve seen at the festival so far is Matthew Porterfield’s I Used To Be Darker…this quietly devastating family drama feels like a major step forward.”
– TimeOut Chicago“At once emotionally charged, formally abstract and narratively laidback, Porterfield’s third feature should sustain the indie cred enjoyed by his much-lauded earlier films.”
– VarietyAbout I Used to Be Darker
When Taryn, a Northern Irish runaway, finds herself in trouble in Ocean City, MD, she seeks refuge with her aunt and uncle in Baltimore. But Kim and Bill have problems of their own: they’re trying to handle the end of their marriage gracefully for the sake of their daughter Abby, just home from her first year of college. A story of family revelations, people finding each other and letting each other go, looking for love where they’ve found it before and, when that doesn’t work, figuring out where they might find it next.
About monterey media
monterey media (www.montereymedia.com) is celebrating 30+ years as an exclusive distributor of quality films. It is a privately owned entertainment industry company specializing in uniquely tailored distribution and marketing for independent films. monterey media films have been nominated for a Golden Globe Award, Independent Spirit Award, and NAACP Image Award; premiered at Sundance Film Festival, TIFF, SXSW, and the Tribeca Film Festivals; and featured on Roger Ebert’s 10 Best Independent Films list.
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