“Dead Language,” the feature adaptation of 2014’s Oscar-nominated short film “Aya,” is heading to Cannes, where WestEnd Films will launch world sales.
The film was recently announced as screening in Tribeca’s Viewpoint Section in June.
Shot under the radar (indeed, little was known before Tribeca’s announcement), “Dead Language,” stars Sarah Adler (“Foxtrot,” “The Taste of Things”), Ulrich Thomsen (“The New Pope,” “Mordecai”), Yehezkel Lazarocv (“Call for Dreams,” “Driver”) and Lars Eidinger (“Persian Lesson,” “Persian Lessons”). It was co-directed by husband-and-wife filmmakers Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun, based on their original short, which also starred Adler and Thomsen.
“Dead Language” tells the story of a chance encounter that propels Aya, a young woman waiting for her husband at an airport, to pick up a complete stranger instead. The intimacy that sparks between the two ends abruptly when the man disappears, leaving Aya with a key to his hotel room and a yearning that perhaps only a stranger can fulfill.
The film marks the director duo’s second feature following their award-winning debut “The Etruscan Smile,” starring Brian Cox and Rosanna Arquette. Producers are Maya Fischer, Gal Greenspan, Roi Kurland and Roni Shamiss (“Cinema Sabaya,” “Golda”), Pavel Strnad (“Ice Mother”) Stanislaw Dziedzic (“Mr Jones”) and Moshe and Leon Edery (“Footnote,” “Tatami”). Co-producers are Shani Ettinger-Sror and Alona Refua. The directors co-wrote the script with their previous collaborators Tom Shoval (“Shake Your Cares Away” “Youth,” “Aya”) and Amital Stern (“The Etruscan Smile”).
“We are proud to be launching this beautiful and profound film into the marketplace — a uniquely thrilling and surprising exploration of intimacy which we can’t wait to share with our worldwide distributors,” said Maya Amsellem, managing director of WestEnd Films.
“As a filmmaking couple, this film is a precious lovechild for us, touching on our outmost need for human connection, and we are delighted to have it begin its life at the Tribeca film festival, in the caring and talented hands of WestEnd films,” said Brezis and Binnun.
“Dead Language” is a co-production between Green Productions, Negativ Films, Film Produkcja and United King Films in association with Armoza Productions and Cassis Films. The film is financed by The Rabinovich Foundation, The New Fund for Cinema and Television, the Weil-Bloch Foundation, The Czech Audiovisual Fund, the Prague Audiovisual Fund and the PFI – Polish Film Institut.
Read the full article here
