Crawlspace to premiere at Cannes; Arclight and XYZ on board as sales agents
An new Australian film by a first-time feature film director has been picked up by Arclight Films ahead of a world premiere at Cannes film market.
Crawlspace, a psychological thriller by writer/director Justin Dix, will be handled by Arclight’s genre arm, Darclight Films.
The film has also secured North American rights, acquired by Los Angeles-based XYZ Films.
Dix told Encore there was no Australian distributor attached yet, but he hoped the film would be out this year.
He said: “I hope so. I can’t see why it wouldn’t. I know a lot of these things come down to peak time and being strategic. I’d love to say it will be.”
Produced by John Finemore, The film is about a team of elite Australian soldiers who are sent into the US military base Pine Gap in the Australian outback. The team discover the site is a testing ground for something more sinister, battling escaped inmates.
Gary Hamilton, managing director of Arclight Films said: “Crawlspace is a prime example of the new face of the sci-fi action thriller. It has a rich story line, intense action, fascinating characters and top of the line special f/x via the expertise of one of the best special effects masters in the business, director Justin Dix.
Dix comes from a special effects background, having worked on two Star Wars films, Red Hill and the forthcoming 100 Bloody Acres.
Crawlspace, made without finance from any of the funding bodies, was produced by Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek Pictures, Finemore’s Maker Films and Dix’s own Wicked of Oz Studios. Dix told Encore: “It gave us autonomy. It’s great. I’m a control freak.
Dix told Encore that, as well as XYZ coming on board, a lot came out of a recent trip to the states.
Dix said: “I picked up a manager, screened Crawlspace to WME which is one of the largest agencies and pitched two new projects. I’m not one to hang around see what Crawlspace does, I’m on to the next thing, in the same vein as Crawlspace, a claustrophobic story with spooks.”
He added: “I don’t know how it will go here but it will have international appeal with top quality in the way it looks and its actors. It’s a movie I’d go see. Whenever I watch it to review I want to watch the whole thing. It’s in my top ten films.”
