Kino Lorber Goes Back In Time For ‘Dawson City’; The Orchard Picks Matthew Morrison-Sarah Chalke Indie ‘After The Reality’

Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to Dawson City: Frozen Time, a film about the true history of 533 reels of film (representing 372 titles) dating from the 1910s to 1920s lost for more than 50 years until being discovered buried in a sub-arctic swimming pool in the Yukon Territory. Bill Morrison’s film uses the silent movies and newsreels to tell the unique history of a Canadian gold rush town and how cinema, capitalism and history intersect. Sigur Rós and Captain Fantastic composer Alex Somers did the music. Dawson City premiered at Venice and the distribution deal comes as it screened last night at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Los Angeles. Kino Lorber plans a June 9 bow in New York at IFC Center and a L.A. release June 16 at Landmark’s Nuart Theatre before expanding over the summer.

The Orchard has acquired North American rights to After The Reality, an indie film starring Matthew Morrison and Sarah Chalke that marks David Anderson’s feature directorial debut. An April 25 digital and on-demand bow is planned for the pic which opened the 2016 Newport Beach Film Festival. Morrison stars as a contestant on a Bachelorette-style reality show whose life is thrown into turmoil after the sudden death of his father, forcing him to quit the series and reconnect with his estranged sister (Chalke). Laura Bell Bundy, Juan Pablo Di Pace, John Heard and Jane Lynch co-star. John Hermann, Alex Koehne and David Anderson produce under the USofAnderson Production Company. Film Mode is repping foreign rights at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival market.