2015 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Ariel Kleiman’s Partisan

Following in the path of former Sundance premiered, Australian stamped films such as Animal Kingdom, Top of the Lake and last year’s The Babadook, Ariel Kleiman’s feature debut is a high profile project that received the Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award back in ’12 and was part of the 2012 June Directors and Screenwriters Labs. Production on Partisan began in late 2013 and actually shot for a spurt in Georgia, and originally had Oscar Isaac in the lead before being replaced by Vincent Cassel. It was reported that Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker, French artist Sebastian Tellier and UK group Metronomy have each composed a karaoke song especially for the flick. Prior to this, Kleiman built an especially great rapport with the festival, his 2010 short Young Love won an Honorable Mention in Short Filmmaking, and his following short Deeper Than Yesterday (watch here) won the Kodak Discovery Award for Best Short Film and the Petit Rail d’Or at Cannes Critics’ Week and the Jury Prize in International Filmmaking at, you guessed it: Sundance.

Gist: Co-written by Ariel Kleiman and Sarah Cyngler, this is about a charismatic and troubled man called Gregori (Cassel), who has raised a communal family within the world of his lavish compound. The story is told through the eyes of 11-year-old Alexander who starts to question Gregori’s deadly teachings. As Alexander approaches his 12th birthday, he begins to question Gregori’s teachings. Tensions build as Gregori’s idyllic world begins to unravel and a creeping fear takes shape: his favorite son may not love him anymore.

Production Co./Producers: Sarah Shaw and Anna McLeish (The Snowtown Murders)

Prediction: World Dramatic Competition. Cannes sounds promising.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic). TBD (international)

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