Golden Bear winner On Body and Soul leads MUBI’s 2017 acquisitions
David Farnor | On 10, Apr 2017
Golden Bear winner On Body and Soul is leading MUBI’s wave of new acquisitions for 2017. The subscription streaming service has established itself as a go-to platform for acclaimed festival favourites, often distributing films that would otherwise not get a release in the UK, and even screening many of them in cinemas too.
As the site prepares to debut The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki in cinemas and online, the curated streaming service is already thinking about the future, snapping up a range of films for the coming months. Ildikó Enyedi’s drama, which took up the top prize at this year’s Berlin International Festival, is at the front of the pack.
Bobby Allen, VP of Content at MUBI, comments: “We are absolutely thrilled to be adding Ildikó Enyedi’s first feature in over 15 years, ON BODY AND SOUL, to our slate. A stunning vision that received the highest of praise and recognition at the Berlinale this year, we look forward to giving this fantastic film a home in cinemas and on MUBI.”
Director Ildikó Enyedi adds: “When the film is ready you then have to let it out of your hands. You sit at home and can only hope that it will land in the hands of those that will care for it as much as you have. It was therefore with immense joy that I found out that MUBI will look after our film. MUBI’s class, curatorial choices and their whole concept of distributing real quality is fresh, effective and impressive. To be part of this is a real honour.”
Alain Gomis’ Felicite, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the festival, has also been acquired by MUBI, as well as Olivier Laze’s Mimosas, the winner of the 2016 Critics’ Week Grand Prize at Cannes.
The latest deals follow recent agreements between MUBI and Gaumont International, Match Factory, Le Pacte, Doc and Film, Open Reel, Stray Dogs, Urban Distribution or Le Bureau and Rezo International, which has seen the service acquire films from directors including Michel Gondry, Mathieu Kassovitz, Marjane Satrapi, Miguel Gomes, Jean-Luc Godard, Federico Fellini, and Ingmar Bergman.
Read our interview with one of MUBI’s curators from Cannes last year – or scroll down for the full rundown of MUBI’s latest acquisitions.
On Body and Soul
In On Body and Soul, two introverted people, both workers in a meat-processing plant, find out by chance that they share the same dream every night. They are puzzled, incredulous and frightened. As they begin to accept this strange coincidence, they try to recreate in broad daylight what happens in their shared subconscious.
Director: Ildikó Enyedi
Country: Hungary
Release date: 2017 (Date TBC)
Felicite
Félicité is a proud, free-willed woman working as a singer in a bar in Kinshasa. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her 14-year-old son falls victim to an accident. To save him, she sets out on a breakneck race through the streets of electric Kinshasa – a world of music and dreams where she’ll cross paths with Tabu…
Director: Alain Gomis
Country: France / Belgium / Germany / Lebanon
Release date: 2017 (Date TBC)
Have a Nice Day
A city in southern China and a bag containing a million yuan draws several people from diverse backgrounds with different personal motives into a bloody conflict. Have A Nice Day, the first Chinese animated feature to compete at the Berlin International Film Festival, is a pulpy thriller with a unique visual style whose doubled-edge serves as critique of contemporary China and its capitalist society.
Director: Liu Jian
Country: China
Release date: 2017 (Date TBC)
Mimosas
Mimosas follows a mysterious caravan carrying a dying sheikh into the Moroccan Atlas mountains. His last wish is to be buried with his loved ones. But death does not wait. The caravaneers, fearful of the mountain pass, refuse to continue transporting the corpse. Ahmed and Said, two rogues traveling with the caravan, promise to take the body to its destiny. But do they really know the way? Meanwhile, in another world, a mysterious young man is chosen to find the caravan.
Director Oliver Laxe comments: “Having travelled to festivals around the world with my film Mimosas, I am very glad, that with the help of MUBI, the film is now able to reach and connect with audiences in the UK.”
Director: Oliver Laxe
Country: Morocco / Spain / France
Release date: 2017 (Date TBC)