Samuel Goldwyn Films Acquires NA Rights To ‘Sweet Country’

Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired North American rights to the Warwick Thornton-directed Sweet Country. Pic stars Bryan Brown, Hamilton Morris, Thomas M. Wright, Ewen Leslie, Natassia Gorey-Furber, Gibson John, Matt Day, Anni Finsterer, Treymayne Doolan, Trevon Doolan and Sam Neill. The film won Special Jury Prize after its world premiere at Venice, and won the Platform competition at the Toronto Film Festival.

The plot: Sam, a middle-aged Aboriginal man, works for a preacher in the outback of Australia’s Northern Territory. When Harry, a bitter war veteran, moves into a neighboring outpost, the preacher sends Sam and his family to help Harry renovate his cattle yards. But Sam’s relationship with the cruel and ill-tempered Harry quickly deteriorates, culminating in a violent shootout in which Sam kills Harry in self-defense. As a result, Sam becomes a wanted criminal for the murder of a white man, and is forced to flee with his wife across the deadly outback, through glorious but harsh desert country. A hunting party led by the local lawman Sergeant Fletcher is formed to track Sam down. But as the true details of the killing start to surface, the community begins to question whether justice is really being served.

“Warwick’s film is beautiful even when it is brutal. We are very excited to work on a film that showcases this great rising talent,” says Peter Goldwyn, President of Samuel Goldwyn Films.