The distributor behind RELIC has another female-led chiller about extreme family trauma on the way.
IFC Midnight has announced its acquisition of North American rights to A BANQUET, the feature debut of award-winning short filmmaker Ruth Paxton, which will be released next year. Scripted by Justin Bull, it stars Sienna Guillory (the RESIDENT EVIL franchise), Jessica Alexander, Ruby Stokes and Lindsay Duncan (A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES). The synopsis: “Widowed mother Holly [Guillory] is radically tested when her teenage daughter Betsey [Alexander] experiences a profound enlightenment and insists that her body is no longer her own, but in service to a higher power. Bound to her newfound faith, Betsey refuses to eat but loses no weight. In an agonizing dilemma, torn between love and fear, Holly is forced to confront the boundaries of her own beliefs.”
“We’ve had an outstanding year breaking out new voices in the horror genre,” says IFC Films president Arianna Bocco, “and we’ve never been more primed to bring Ruth Paxton and her brilliant and provocative feature debut to audiences across the country.” Says Paxton, “I’m thrilled to be partnering with such an established champion of independent cinema in IFC Films. It is daunting to be introducing my first feature with them considering they’ve previously supported many of my cinematic heroes, from Von Trier and Audiard to McQueen, Kent and Kurzel, but I’m incredibly excited and I can’t wait to launch A BANQUET with them!”
