By mcneditor editor@moviecitynews.com

RADIANT FILMS INTERNATIONAL SELLS ALL RIGHTS TO TOM SHADYAC’S DOCUMENTARY ‘I AM’ TO UNIVERSAL PICTURES INTERNATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT

For Immediate Release

(Los Angeles – May 3, 2012) Mimi Steinbauer, President / CEO of Radiant Films International announced today that Tom Shadyac’s life affirming documentary feature film ‘I AM’ has been acquired for all worldwide distribution rights (excluding US and Canada) by Universal Pictures International Entertainment.

‘I AM’ is a film that resonates beautifully with audiences looking for a smart and entertaining look at life themes that affect all of us.  We are delighted that Universal Pictures International Entertainment has recognized the potential of this film,” said Steinbauer.

“Universal Pictures International Entertainment is pleased to be working with Radiant Films to release ‘I AM’ internationally. This inspirational feature is a welcome addition to our documentary collection,” said Eddie Cunningham, President of Universal International Entertainment.

“I AM” is the result of a life-changing biking accident in 2007 suffered by acclaimed director Shadyac which compelled him to re-evaluate his Hollywood lifestyle and seek the answers to the following questions: what’s wrong with our world and what can we do to make it better?

A critical and box office hit in the US released through Paladin, Shadyac interviews several legendary philosophical thinkers and academics from our time including David Suzuki, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to reach answers to these vital questions. The result is a powerful, uplifting, enlightening documentary which challenges our preconceptions about human behavior while celebrating the indomitable human spirit.

Shadyac is one of Hollywood’s most well-known comedic directors having directed such classics as ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE, THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, LIAR LIAR, BRUCE ALMIGHTY and others. His films have grossed nearly 2 billion dollars at the box office.

About Radiant Films International

Founded by international sales veteran, Mimi Steinbauer, who is President and CEO, Radiant Films International is a newly launched full service international sales company funded through private equity sources which plans to acquire and distribute between 6-8 theatrical titles per year.  Other titles on Radiant’s slate include Andrew Levitas’ drama, LULLABY.

About Universal Pictures International Entertainment

UPIE is part of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. Comcast Corporation owns a controlling 51% interest in NBCUniversal, with GE holding a 49% stake.

*********************

Leave a Reply

Quote Unquotesee all »

“I don’t really think, Sean, that you need to know about my various sexual liaisons. Or that anyone else needs to. I did write about them. I filled a hundred pages of Moleskine notebooks with my one-night stands, my affairs. But I decided they didn’t belong in a professional memoir. First of all, these are real people we’re talking about. Many of them were enjoyable. Some were abject failures. My wife said to me when she read the pages, ‘Of what purpose is this in a memoir? Of what purpose is this other than to titillate?’ The point is, I never see them. It’s because I have nothing in common with them, frankly. And probably didn’t at the time. I could not provide a sensible reason why I married these women. The thing is, in the case of my marriages, it takes two people to fuck up a marriage. It wasn’t simply the fault of these women that I lost interest in them and realised they were insignificant relationships. Which is how I look at them right now–as being insignificant. I see them as blips.”
~ William Friedkin On Cutting Interviewers Off At The Sass

“I have to imagine from Mr. Spielberg’s point of view, the paradigm shift in the 1970s was just the new “normal,” a “halcyon era” from which we are straying in the 21st century–because theatrical exhibition is tenuous (as it has been since the 1940s), the home video market has dried up and people are watching pirated movies on their phone. Spielberg’s coming-of-age era was for him the halcyon period that the 21st century “implosion” will cause to go “crashing into the ground.” But he is wrong. The market for movies is actually diverse and highly segmented–although from the top-down movie industry vantage point and media punditry you would not think this to be true.  Would we really mourn for Mr. Spielberg or ourselves if Lincoln would have been made for cable or had played on public television?  Is it bad for humanity that cable television is creating wonderful, resonant stories in long-form series that people want to watch at home on TV (or streamed onto their computer)? I don’t think so, but it is a paradigm shift and it might affect people’s theatrical moviegoing habits. Televisions in people’s homes have had that effect for seven decades–it is not a new phenomenon. As Art House cinema impresarios we need to focus on what WE can do at our theaters and in our communities. It is not productive for us to fret over what pundits say or about what well-meaning filmmakers like the Stevens–Spielberg and Soderbergh–say. We should fret about what we can do in our communities. What we can do to support filmmakers.”
~ From A Response By Russ Collins, CEO, Michigan Theater–Ann Arbor And Director, Art House Convergence, To Mr. Spielberg