Fantastic Fest 2011: ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN to Hit Theaters in November

Hot off the tail of a successful festival run and with Austin audiences still buzzing at Fantastic Fest, New Video's Flatiron Film Company and Variance Films have just announced that Jose Padilha's Brazilian polito-actioner Elite Squad: The Enemy Within will roll out to US theaters beginning November 11th in NY (AMC Empire 25) and November 18th in LA (Laemmle Sunset 5) with more markets planned to open from there. The film is both Brazil's highest grossing domestic release of all time and the country's Foreign Language Oscar submission for this year. Read our review here and check out excerpts from the press release below.

"ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN is the rare film that truly has it all," said Dylan Marchetti, Founder of Variance Films. "There's a tense, well-acted story that's so intelligently written it makes you start to question your own politics, and then, without warning, these impossibly kinetic action scenes explode across the screen, all set to the real-life backdrop of Rio's favelas. When you add in that Variance had been looking to work with New Video for some time now, this feels a little bit like having Christmas, prom, and a new puppy all at the same time."

"We've got the best of both worlds with ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN - a brilliant foreign film and an action-packed thriller," said Steve Savage, Co-President of New Video. "We've found an apt partner in Variance for tapping into U.S. audiences and building on the film's incredible run in Brazil. With Dylan and his team at the helm of our distribution strategy we have the highest expectations for success."

ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN (TROPA DE ELITE 2) is Brazil's official submission to the 84th Academy Awards®, and is fresh off a festival run with stops at Sundance, the Berlinale, and Austin's legendary Fantastic Fest. The film is directed by Padilha (BUS 174, ELITE SQUAD) and co-written by Padilha and Bráulio Mantovani (Academy Award® nominee for his CITY OF GOD script), and is the highest-grossing film of all time in Brazil, grossing over $70 million domestically.

ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN (TROPA DE ELITE 2) takes place in one of the most dangerous places on Earth: the sprawling slum that surrounds Rio de Janeiro. As the head of Rio's Special Police Operations Battalion (BOPE), Captain Nascimento (Wagner Moura) is accused of a massacre when a BOPE mission to quell a jail riot ends in the violent death of a gang leader. But the citizens of Rio, tired of the crime and drugs that plague their city, embrace him as a hero--and with elections around the corner, he finds himself promoted. Nascimento uses his powerful new position to bring the gangs to their knees, but quickly discovers that he's only making things easier for the dirty cops and corrupt politicians that are truly running the game. Now, Nascimento must confront his true enemies, who are much more dangerous... and sitting just down the hall.

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