Kim Longinotto’s Shooting the Mafia, a documentary about photojournalist Letizia Battaglia’s coverage of organized crime in Italy, has been acquired by Cohen Media Group. The film had its world premiere last month in the World Cinema Documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival and just screened at the Berlin Film Festival. The deal is for U.S. distribution rights; no release plans were announced.
The pic uses Battaglia’s black-and-white photographs and rare archival film to tell the story of a woman whose bravery and defiance helped expose the Sicilian Mafia’s brutal crimes. “Kim Longinotto’s film is a stirring tribute to the remarkable Letizia Battaglia, who put herself at great personal risk to document appalling crime and its victims,” GMG owner, chairman and CEO Charles S. Cohen said in the release announcing the deal Wednesday.
The Screen Ireland/Lunar Pictures film is produced by Niamh Fagan. Executive producers are Dan Cogan, Jenny Raskin and Geralyn White Dreyfous of Impact Partners; Lesley McKimm of Screen Ireland; and Elena Foster, Patty Quillin and Regina K. Scully.
Cohen Media Group’s Gary Rubin negotiated the deal with Ben Braun and Ben Schwartz of Submarine.
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