TORONTO (September 6, 2018) – Saban Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Ludwig and Paul Shammasian’s Romans, starring Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean), Janet Montgomery (“Salem”, Black Swan), Charlie Creed-Miles (“Silent Witness”, The Fifth Element), Josh Myers (I am Soldier) and Anne Reid (Hot Fuzz, “Last Tango in Halifax”). The drama is written by Geoff Thompson (The Pyramid Texts) and produced by Jasper Graham of Dreamscape along with James Harris and Mark Lane of The Fyzz Facility and Sheetal Vinod Talwar of Vistaar Film Fund, in association with Zee International.
Romans is the story of Malky (Bloom), a man who struggles to come to terms with the abuse he suffered by a local priest during his childhood. Now set on demolishing the church in which the abuse took place, he finds himself on the unlikely path towards forgiveness.
“This is a heart-rending and sobering film,” said Saban Films’ Bill Bromiley. “Ludwig and Paul have a powerful and timely story here, and Orlando really takes it home.”
“Romans is a brave film that tells a very delicate story and has strong performances that put you in the midst of it. We applaud the producers for taking the risk and are excited to have Saban Films as our domestic partner” says Moring of DDI.
The film made its World Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where Anne Reid took home the prize for Best Performance in a British Feature Film, and then went on to the Rome Film Festival.
Bill Bromiley and Ness Saban negotiated the deal for Saban Films with Double Dutch International’s Jason Moring, on behalf of filmmakers.
Saban Films continues to be active in the acquisition and distribution space, most recently landing Stephan Rick’s elevated genre The Super starring Val Kilmer, and following its recent activity acquiring a slew of films out of the Cannes Film Festival, including: Between Worlds starring Nicolas Cage; the anthology Berlin, I Love You with Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley and Jim Sturgess; the Gerard Butler starrer Keepers; and David L.G. Hughes’ Viking Destiny. Its current slate also includes: Craig William Macneill’s racy drama Lizzie, starring Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart; and Ivan Kavanagh’s Never Grow Old starring John Cusack and Emile Hirsch.
Since the company’s launch in 2014, Saban Films has released over 40 films with successes that have run the gamut from critically acclaimed theatrical films such as The Homesman, to one of the biggest Fathom events in 2016 with Rob Zombie’s horror thriller 31. Recent releases include: Alexandre Moors’ The Yellow Birds starring Tye Sheridan, Alden Ehrenreich, Toni Collette, with Jason Patric, Jack Huston and Jennifer Aniston; Alexandros Avranas’ Dark Crimes starring Jim Carrey and Charlotte Gainsbourg; Roland Joffe’s The Forgiven starring Forest Whitaker and Eric Bana; Taran Killam’s Killing Gunther starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; Ric Roman Waugh’s Shot Caller starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Lake Bell; War on Everyone starring Alexander Skarsgård, Michael Peña, and Theo James; The Girl with All the Gifts starring Gemma Arterton and Glenn Close; Brad Silberling’s war thriller An Ordinary Man starring Academy Award® Winner Ben Kingsley; and Ethan Hawke action thriller 24 Hours to Live.
# # #
About Saban Films
Saban Films, an affiliate of Saban Capital Group (“SCG”), is a film acquisition and distribution company which acquires high-quality, feature films to distribute in North America. Focusing on commercial, talent driven films, the company looks at projects in all stages of production for release across multiple platforms, including a day and date theatrical/VOD release strategy. Based in Los Angeles, Saban Films was established by Haim Saban, SCG Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and is led by Bill Bromiley who serves as President, Shanan Becker, Chief Financial Officer and Ness Saban, Vice President of Business Development.
About Double Dutch:
Double Dutch International (DDI) is a globally recognized sales company, representing high level, cast driven features with strong commercial viability worldwide, across all media platforms. DDI brings a fresh look to sales, uniquely blending experience with the flexibility to adapt in today's market reality. We firmly believe passion breeds results and our goal is to find enthusiastic distribution partners for our producers ensuring maximum return on their investment.
About Vistaar / WSG:
We have always tried to stay the course of telling socially relevant stories and producing meaningful cinema - and the critically successful “Dharm”, “The Eichmann Show”, “ The Joneses”, “Romans” and “Rann” are representative of this.