February 11, 2015 — Indiepix Films acquires 2014 Sundance Grand Jury nominee, WHITE SHADOW
New York, NY (February 11, 2015) – IndiePix Films announced today that it has acquired WHITE SHADOW, the acclaimed feature debut of Berlin-based Israeli director Noaz Deshe. Executive produced by Oscar-nominee Ryan Gosling, the festival favorite called “timeless, haunting, horrific [and] beautiful” by multi Oscar-winner Francis Ford Coppola, played in competition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the prestigious Grand Jury Award.
WHITE SHADOW, also an Official Selection and award-winner at Venice, Munich, East End (UK) Film Festivals, and the San Francisco and T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festivals, will initially have a limited theatrical release in the first and second quarters of 2015, with release to the home entertainment marketplace, via DVD and digital channels (including iTunes, Amazon, Google and Vudu), in Q3. The domestic distribution agreement was negotiated by Jordan Mattos, Director of Programming at IndiePix and Kasia Karwan, Sales Agent at Premium Films in Paris.
After director Deshe accepted the Luigi De Laurentiis Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2013, WHITE SHADOW would go on to capture numerous awards and universal acclaim in 2014, including the Grand Prix and Audience Award at the T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival in Poland; capture the New Director’s Prize at the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Cinevision Award at Munich, as well as Best Feature at the UK’s East End Film Festival and Best Director at South Africa’s Durban International Film Festival. And Deshe’s directorial debut has been called “staggering”, “ambitious” and “harrowing”.
Witch doctors offer thousands of dollars for albino body parts which are believed to bring good fortune, prosperity and the ability to cure any illness. As a result, Tanzanian albinos, including children, have been murdered by gangs of men who hack off arms, legs or genitals. Some will pay from $500 to $5000 for an albino limb while the average annual income in Tanzania is $442. There is a saying in East Africa, “Albinos don’t die, they just disappear”and seventy-three such documented killings have occurred in the past two years as well as hundreds of unreported attacks since 2007. WHITE SHADOW is the story of Alias (played by newcomer Hamisi Bazili), a young albino boy on the run. After witnessing his father’s murder, his mother sends him away to find refuge in the city. He’s brought to the care of his uncle, Kosmos, a truck driver struggling with a few small businesses. In the city, Alias is a quick learner, selling sunglasses, DVDs and mobile phones. He is fond of his uncle’s daughter, Antoinette, although his uncle disapproves. Gradually the city becomes no different than the bush and wherever Alias travels the same rules of survival apply.
“White Shadow uses stunning, dreamlike imagery and hybrid cinematic approaches to tell a difficult real-life story,” says Mattos. “Our hope is that it will entice audiences to set foot in its dark, mystifying world and engage with the questions the film asks of us.”
