Avi Federgreen’s Indiecan Entertainment is launching a genre-focused distribution arm, hot on the heels of releasing Junta Yamaguchi’s time paradox comedy Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes.
Red Water Entertainment will serve as a home for genre cinema from around the world, focused on bringing North American audiences high-quality cinema with no language or regional barriers.
It will work primarily in the horror, science fiction and action genres, but will release films from the vast spectrum that the term ‘genre’ encompasses. “There’s a lot of wonderful genre cinema that never sees the light of day in North America, and I’m excited to help some of these films find the audiences they deserve,” said Federgreen.
Red Water’s launch slate comprises six diverse films that will release late this year. They are Stefano Lodovichi’s The Guest Room (aka The Room; Italy), John Farrelly’s The Sleep Experiment (Ireland), Carlo Lavagna’s Shadows (Italy/Ireland), Rasmus Merivoo’s Kratt (Estonia), and Xiaofeng Li’s Back to the Wharf (China), which will be released in Canada and the US. Karen Lam’s Canadian feature The Curse of Willow Song will be a Canada-only release.
Rights for The Guest Room were secured through Gaetano Matorino of True Colours, Shadows through Catia Rossi of Vision Distribution, for Kratt with Justyna Koronkiewicz of Media Move and producer Tõnu Hiielaid, and Back to the Wharf with Fen Chen of Rediance Films. Negotiations over The Sleep Experiment and The Curse of Willow Song were handled directly with the filmmakers.
The Guest Room follows Stella, who decides to take her own life, until a stranger knocks at her door claiming the guest room he booked for the night. Surprised but charmed by the man, who seems to know her, she decides to let him in. But when Sandro, the man who broke her heart, joins them at home, the situation immediately turns into chaos.
The Sleep Experiment sees two detectives begin an investigation into a disastrous secret military experiment where five prisoners were kept awake for 30 days in a sealed gas chamber.
Shadows follows teenage sisters Alma (Mia Threapleton) and Alex (Lola Petticrew) live in an old, abandoned hotel together with their strict Mother (Saskia Reeves), who shields them from outside dangers. As time passes, a new awareness dawns on the two girls, pressing them into breaking the rules and the apparent balance of their life, bringing a disturbing secret to light.
Kratt follows two city kids, who find an instruction on how to build a devilish creature when left at their granny’s home, while Back to the Wharf tells the story of a a man guilted by his teenage crime spree who returns to his hometown only to find the truth about his unspeakable past.
The Curse of Willow Song follows the titular Willow Song fending for herself on the unforgiving streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside after serving the for arson. With the fates seemingly conspiring against her, she’s thrown a lifeline by a figure from her past.
Red Water will be run by Federgreen as CEO, with the help of long-time Indiecan Acquisitions and Operations Advisor Justin McConnell, as well as Indiecan’s existing acquisitions and support team, plus a distribution network already established over the last decade.
