The Orchard Announces 2016 Theatrical Release Slate
Mar 16, 2016
Los Angeles – March 15, 2016 – The Orchard, the pioneering independent film distributor, announced its 2016 theatrical release slate today. Following a remarkable 2015 for the company, which included Academy Award-nominee for Best Documentary CARTEL LAND, the diverse slate for 2016 includes powerful documentaries, crowd-pleasing comedies and acclaimed dramas.
As previously announced, LOUDER THAN BOMBS, will be released on April 8. The first English-language film from award-winning director Joachim Trier (REPRISE; OSLO, AUGUST 31st), LOUDER THAN BOMBS stars Gabriel Byrne, Isabelle Huppert, Jesse Eisenberg and Devin Druid, and played in competition at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the moving and intimate story of a father (Byrne) and his two sons (Eisenberg and Druid), who must confront conflicting memories of their deceased wife and mother, a famed war photographer (Huppert).
On May 20, The Orchard will release the acclaimed documentary ALMOST HOLY, which tells the story of Gennadiy Mohknenko, a Ukrainian pastor who has taken up the fight against child homelessness by forcibly abducting street kids and bringing them to his private rehabilitation center. Gennadiy’s ongoing efforts and unabashedly tough love approach to his city’s problems has made him a folk hero to some, and a lawless vigilante to others. Directed by Steve Hoover (Sundance Grand Jury prize winner for BLOOD BROTHERS), executive produced by Terence Malick and Nicolas Gonda, and with a score by Atticus Ross, ALMOST HOLY (formerly CROCODILE GENNADIY) premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.
THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS: YO-YO MA AND THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE will be released on June 10. From Morgan Neville, director of the Academy Award-winning documentary 20 FEET FROM STARDOM, THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS tells the extraordinary story of an international musical collective created by legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The film follows this group of diverse instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers as they explore the power of music to preserve tradition, shape cultural evolution and inspire hope. Produced by Participant Media and Tremolo Productions, THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and was most recently a Special Gala Presentation at the Berlinale.
2016 Sundance Film Festival and SXSW favorite HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE will be released on June 24. Directed by Taiki Waititi (WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS; upcoming THOR: RAGNORAK), this crowd-pleasing comedy-adventure stars Sam Neill and breakout young actor Julian Dennison. Dennison plays Ricky, a defiant young city kid who finds himself on the run with his cantankerous foster uncle (Neill) in the wild New Zealand bush. As a national manhunt ensues, the newly branded outlaws must face their options: go out in a blaze of glory or overcome their differences and survive as a family.
On July 8, The Orchard will release LIFE, ANIMATED, recipient of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award (US Documentary). From Academy-Award winning director Roger Ross Williams (GOD LOVES UGANDA), LIFE, ANIMATED tells the remarkable story of Owen Suskind, an autistic young man who was unable to speak for much of his childhood but who regained his ability to communicate with his loving family and the wider world through a life-long commitment to Disney animated movies. LIFE, ANIMATED is a rich visual journey into the challenges of autism as well as a deeply moving illustration of how the power of love and understanding can fix those things in life that often appear beyond repair. The A&E Indiefilms production was also produced by Williams and Julie Goldman (BUCK, WEINER). After its theatrical and on demand windows, LIFE, ANIMATED will be available for streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
CHRISTINE will be released on October 14. Starring acclaimed actress Rebecca Hall in a tour-de-force performance that has already attracted awards attention, the film is masterfully directed by Antonio Campos (AFTERSCHOOL, SIMON KILLER) and is based on true events. Set in 1974, CHRISTINE tells the story of an ambitious news reporter named Christine Chubbuck (Hall) who is relentlessly motivated to succeed. When competition for a promotion, unrequited love for a coworker, and a tumultuous home life all come together, Christine faces an emotional crisis that has devastating consequences. The film, which debuted at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival to stellar reviews, also stars Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts, and Maria Dizzia.
Planned for a fall release is GHOST TEAM (date TBA). The comedic thriller, directed by Oliver Irving (HOW TO BE), stars Jon Heder, David Krumholtz, Melonie Diaz, Paul W. Downs, Justin Long and Amy Sedaris. In GHOST TEAM, paranormal-obsessed Louis (Heder) puts together a dysfunctional team to mount his own investigation into the beyond, in a desperate attempt to escape the monotony of his daily life.
DEMON will be released this winter (date TBA). Newly arrived from England, Peter (Israeli actor Itay Tiran, LEBANON) is set to marry his fiancee Zaneta at her family’s ramshackle country house in rural Poland. As the ceremony proceeds, Peter begins to come undone, and a dybbuk, the iconic ancient figure from Jewish folklore, takes a toehold in this present-day celebration – for a very particular reason, as it turns out. The final work by Marcin Wrona, who died just as DEMON was set to premiere in Poland, is part absurdist comedy, part love story-that scares, amuses, and charms in equal measure. DEMON premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and is a selection of New Directors/New Films in 2016.
ABOUT THE ORCHARD
The Orchard is a pioneering independent film, TV and music distribution company that operates in over 25 global markets. The company, founded as a music distributor in 1997, is a groundbreaking leader in the film and television distribution space, known for its innovative technology that provides filmmakers with up-to-the minute trending data and analytics on their projects. The Orchard’s film division has enjoyed such recent successes as the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Cartel Land,” “The Overnight,” “Dior & I” and “What We Do in the Shadows.”