Vendôme Pictures Making Feature Film of Human Rights Documentary ‘A Fire Within’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Vendôme Pictures has acquired the remake rights to produce a scripted adaptation of ”A Fire Within,” an award-winning human rights documentary about Ethiopian refugee Edgegayehu “Edge” Taye.
The 2021 nonfiction film documented how Taye, a torture survivor, flees to the U.S. only to discover that her former torturer is living there and working alongside her at her new job in a midtown Atlanta hotel. It follows the attempts of Taye and two other Ethiopian women to bring her torturer to justice in America. Directed by Christopher Chambers (“Aram, Aram”), ”A Fire Within” has won several awards on the film festival circuit after premiering at the Atlanta Film Festival, where it won the audience award for best documentary.
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Vendôme Pictures will develop and package the picture, with Philippe Rousselet and Fabrice Gianfermi producing with Liya Kebede and Chambers attached to executive produce. Josh Ludmir at Greenberg Traurig negotiated the deal on behalf of FMRL Media and Chambers, with Emmanuelle Berdugo and Jacqueline Eckhouse at Sloss Eckhouse Dasti Haynes on behalf of Vendôme Pictures.
“There is nothing more fulfilling than to finally be able to tell our own stories,” Kebede said. “‘A Fire Within’ does exactly just that. It is a story of immigration. A reminder of why we come to America. A reminder that justice can still be upheld. I’m very much looking forward to adapting this documentary film into a narrative feature.”
Chambers added: “It has been a powerful experience to see film festival audiences be so moved by the three inspiring women whose story we share in ‘A Fire Within.’ I cannot imagine a better producer to shepherd this narrative version forward than Philippe Rousselet and his team at Vendôme, who brought ‘CODA’ to audiences around the world with such artistry and sensitivity.”
Mediawan Rights will be handling the worldwide sales on “A Fire Within,” which was produced by Chambers and Ermias Woldeamlak. The documentary is executive produced by Kebede, Jeff Hoffman and Russell Gray, in association with FMRL Media and Above the Clouds.
Vendôme is best known for producing “CODA,” which won three Oscars at the 2022 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The company is currently in pre-production on Andrew Niccol’s “Lords of War” starring Academy award-winner Nicolas Cage and Bill Skarsgård. In addition, Vendôme Pictures is backing “Ibelin,” a drama about a Norwegian gamer which will be directed by Morten Tyldum (“The Imitation Game”).
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