Film Movement announced today it has acquired all North American rights to Justin Lerner’s critically acclaimed The Automatic Hate, which had its World Premiere in the Narrative Spotlight section at this year’s South By Southwest Film Festival. Film Movement plans a winter theatrical release for the film following select festival appearances including the Seattle International Film Festival later this month.
ComingSoon.net sat down at SXSW with Lerner alongside co-writer Katharine O’Brien and star Joseph Cross and you can check out our in-depth interview right here.
The Automatic Hate explores what happens when Davis Green’s alluring young cousin Alexis appears on his doorstep one night and he discovers that a side of his family has been kept secret for his entire life. Against his father’s wishes, Davis travels to rural, Upstate New York to meet his other cousins. As he and Alexis attempt to reunite their families, they try to uncover the shocking secret that tore their families apart, while wrestling with a taboo attraction to each other.
The follow up to Lerner’s Gotham Independent Film Audience Award-winning debut Girlfriend, The Automatic Hate also stars Adelaide Clemens, Richard Schiff, Ricky Jay and Deborah Ann Woll. Produced by Lerner, along with Lacey Leavitt and Anonymous Content’s Alix Madigan-Yorkin, The Automatic Hate has Daniel Alexander, Gabriela Revilla Lugo, Kerianne Flynn, Debra Minoff Weinstein and BN Film’s Lucas Akoskin and Alex Garcia serving as executive producers.
“It’s been such an exciting journey already, which began at SXSW,” says Lerner, “and now to be partnering with a company like Film Movement — that has such class and taste in both foreign and American independent cinema — we feel very fortunate to be teaming up with them to get the film out to more audiences.”
“Justin is a fresh new voice in American independent cinema,” adds Michael Rosenberg, President of Film Movement, “and his growing work is a great example of the kinds of films we want to support as we branch out to releasing more American indie films.”
WME Global negotiated the sale on behalf of the filmmakers.
