Fremantle’s Rome-based company The Apartment has boarded Karim Aïnouz’s next feature Rosebushpruning in partnership with The Match Factory, Mubi, Kavac Film and Rai Cinema.
It marks the first big film announcement for The Apartment since the arrival of Annamaria Morelli as its CEO in February, following the departure of founder Lorenzo Mieli.
As announced in Cannes this week, Kristen Stewart, Josh O’Connor, and Elle Fanning are signed to co-star in Rosebushpruning, which shoots later this year.
Aïnouz is directing from a script written by Efthimis Filippou (Kinds of Kindness, Dogtooth, The Lobster), adapted from Marco Bellocchio’s debut feature Fists in the Pocket, a satirical drama about a dysfunctional family.
Viola Fügen and Michael Weber are producing Rosebushpruning for The Match Factory, which is also handling worldwide sales for the film.
The adaptation rights have been acquired from Kavac Film also attached at the production team with Simone Gattoni.
The Apartment is co-producing with Morelli as executive producer. Rachel Dargavel for Crybaby Films is co-producing in the UK.
Mubi is financing production alongside Catherine Boily and Mitch Oliver’s Metafilms and Anna Films in association with Fremantle. Film und Medienstiftung NRW, Medienboard and the German Federal Film Board also funded the film.
“We are extremely happy to be part of this important film together with exceptional partners such as The Match Factory, Mubi, Kavac and Rai Cinema. We deeply appreciate Karim Aïnouz’s films and are enthusiastic of the way he and Efthymis Filippou adapted Bellocchio’s masterpiece, revisited with a strikingly bold and original vision,” said Morelli.
Aïnouz, who is Competition at Cannes this year with Motel Destino, said he was “excited” to be revisiting Bellocchio’s first film, and revealed his ambitions for the new film.
“Marco Bellocchio’s astonishing debut, Fists in the Pocket, was released over 50 years ago and had a huge impact on Italian cinema and storytelling at the time,” he said.
“I’m excited to be collaborating with Efthimis Filippou to revisit this iconic work to create a contemporary parable about the explosion of the traditional patriarchal family — which I hope will be touching and provocative in equal measure. It’s a dream come true to be working with such a dynamic ensemble of actors that I have long admired to bring this explosive adaptation to audiences today.”
Aïnouz is represented by Lark Management, CAA and Andre des Rochers.