Well Go USA Entertainment will distribute in the US Zak Hilditch’s debut feature These Final Hours, which screened in Directors Fortnight in Cannes.
That’s the 18th Australian film acquired for US theatrical release this year, an all-time record beating the previous high of 15 in 1997.
Produced by Liz Kearney, the film will get a platform release in New York and Los Angeles as a precursor to VOD and DVD. Well Go handled Not Suitable for Children.
Wolf Creek’s Nathan Phillips plays a self-obsessed young guy who makes his way to the party-to-end-all-parties on the last day on Earth but ends up saving the life of a girl (11-year-old Angourie Rice) who’s searching for her father. Sarah Snook, Daniel Henshall, Jessica De Gouw and Kathryn Beck round out the cast.
Rice made her debut in Transmission, Hilditch’s short film also produced by Liz Kearney, the tale of a deadly pandemic and its impact on a father-daughter relationship, which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
Robert Connolly’s Arenamedia executive produced the thriller, which Roadshow will release on July 31. It won the critics’ prize for best Australian film at the Melbourne International Film Festival last year.
The film was funded by Screen Australia, Screen West’s West Coast Visions initiative, the MIFF Premiere Fund and the 40% producer offset. International sales are handled by Celluloid Nightmares.