Juliette Binoche’s Venice Pic ‘Polina’ Acquired By Oscilloscope; ‘The Drowning’ Lands At Paladin & Electric

Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to Polina, the ballet drama starring Juliette Binoche that played at the 2016 Venice Film Festival. A July release date is in the works for the pic, which was co-directed by Valérie Müller and dancer-choreographer Angelin Preljocaj. Müller wrote the screenplay based on the graphic novel by Bastien Vivès. It centers on Polina (Anastasia Shevtsova), a promising classical ballet dancer who is just about to join the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet when she discovers contemporary dance, a revelation that throws everything into question. She moves to France to work with famous choreographer Liria Elsaj (Binoche) but is quickly forced to grapple with the realization that determination and hard work don’t always lead to success. Didier Creste and Gaëlle Bayssière of Everybody on Deck produced; the deal was brokered by TF1 Studio which handled international sales.

Paladin and Electric Entertainment have acquired rights to Bette Gordon’s erotic psychological thriller The Drowning starring Julia Stiles and Josh Charles and have set a May 10, 2017 release date. The Film Community production is based on Booker Prize-winning author Pat Barker’s Border Crossing, a novel about violence in children. The pic centers on a forensic psychologist (Charles) who is haunted by his expert witness testimony that sent a young boy to prison for a chilling murder. When the boy later reappears in his life, he is drawn into a destructive, soul-searching reinvestigation of the case. Stephen Molton and House Of Cards showrunner Frank Pugliese adapted the script and Avan Jogia, Tracie Thoms and Leo Fitzpatrick co-star. Elizabeth Kling, Subi Liang, Ho-Cheung Pang exec produced and Radium Cheung, Daniel L. Blanc, Jamin O’Brien are producers. The deal was negotiated by Electric, which is handling international sales, with Jonathan Gardner of Cohen Gardner LLP on behalf of the filmmakers.