2023 Independent Spirits’ Best Feature Contender ‘Our Father, The Devil’ Acquired By Cinedigm
01.03.2023 - 20:25
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Cinedigm has picked up North American rights to the acclaimed French thriller Our Father, the Devil (Mon père, le diable), marking the narrative feature debut of writer-director Ellie Foumbi, which this Saturday will contend for Best Feature as the Independent Spirit Awards. The indie will be released in theaters later this year, with an exclusive streaming release on the company’s indie discovery platform Fandor to follow.
Our Father, the Devil stars Babetida Sadjo as Marie, the head chef at a retirement home in small-town France. Her easy day-to-day life spent caring for residents, hanging out with her co-worker and best friend Nadia (Jennifer Tchiakpe), and teasing a potential new romance is disrupted by the arrival of Father Patrick (Souleìymane Sy Savané), an African priest whom she recognizes from a terrifying episode in her homeland. As he further endears himself to the residents and staff, Marie is forced to decide how best to deal with this reminder of her troubled past.
The film produced by Foumbi and Joseph Mastantuono world premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and has since won top prizes at festivals including Tribeca, Mill Valley, Hamptons, Sidewalk, Tallgrass, New Orleans, Heartland, Indie Memphis and Palm Springs, to name a few.
“I’m so excited to be collaborating with Cinedigm for the release of my first feature,” Foumbi told Deadline. “This project was a labor of love on so many fronts and its distribution is no exception. It’s especially gratifying because they have been in our corner for a long time, and I believe they are the perfect home for us.”
“Couching emotionally heavy material in suspenseful genre pleasures shows just how sophisticated and psychologically nuanced OUR