Euro Beat: NSFW Trailer And Release News About Abel Ferrara's WELCOME TO NEW YORK

Editor-at-Large; Los Angeles (@http://twitter.com/marshalclark)
Also in today's Eurobeat: Project news from Ben Wheatly and Paolo Sorrentino, a closer look at Spain's new box-office juggernaut, and more!


Martin Kudlac and Carwyn Jones contributed to this story.

Though the Cannes film festival has honored provocateur Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant, King of New York) before, his inspired-by-true-events take on the rape scandal involving French political giant Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK from here on out) failed to crack any of the lineups at this year's festival.

But that seems O.K. and not too surprising for French distributor Wild Bunch, who, amidst claims of bullying and attempts to block the film's production and distribution, is going to skip theatrical exhibition altogether and release the film on VOD in France on May 17 after a market screening and launch party on the croissette.

To U.S. readers, this VOD business may not seem like a big deal, but in France, it is huge. The country's distribution model is still firmly based on theatrical releases, even for the smallest domestic films, and its rare that films with even the slightest mainstream appeal go straight to VOD. Add to that, Welcome to New York is very highly anticipated in France, it is essentially France's most famous, then infamous actor playing the center of the biggest political scandal the country has seen in the last decade.

But... why? Well, Wild Bunch is playing a bit coy about it, but the implication is that, given the nature of the subject matter, and the wealth and power of DSK's wife, Anne Sinclair, releasing the film theatrically would have been akin to stepping into a minefield. Producer Vincent Maravel has repeatedly said that the high ranking members of media and political organizations have repeatedly tried to destroy the film. Most recently he said, he was told by a close friend of Sinclair that, "she will spend her entire fortune on destroying your life.”

Truth or calculated stirring of the pot? Who knows. Either way, it rolls out on France on VOD May 17, and IFC Films has picked it up for stateside distribution. Also, it looks pretty amazing, based on this NSFW trailer:


Exclu Télérama.fr : Welcome to New York, d'Abel... by Telerama_BA

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