Mira Nair’s Venice Fest Opener ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ Sells to Eagle Pictures

Tarak Ben Ammar's Eagle Pictures has acquired the Italian rights to the Venice Film Festival opener "The Reluctant Fundamentalist"

The Italian rights to Mira Nair's “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” have been picked up by Italy’s Eagle Pictures, sales company K5 announced Monday. The film opens the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday and will then play on Sept. 8 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Nair’s latest directorial effort is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid.  

The political thriller follows the story of a young Pakistani man chasing corporate success on Wall Street. He finds himself caught up in a conflict between his American Dream, a hostage crisis and the call of his homeland.

The cast includes Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Martin Donovan and Om Puri. The film was produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher and financed by the Doha Film Institute.

Also read: Venice Film Festival Unveils Line-Up with Films from Malick, De Palma and Demme

“I am honored to be a part of the world premiere of Mira Nair's beautiful new film at Venice and, beyond that, to bring it to Italian audiences with Eagle Pictures," Ben Ammar, chairman of Eagle Pictures, said in a statement. "This is an important film with a message of tolerance and mutual understanding between cultures that is universal and timely.”

The film marks the second collaboration between Ammar and the Doha Film Institute. The two collaborated last year on Jean-Jacques Annaud’s feature “Black Gold,” starring Tahar Rahim, Freida Pinto, Antonio Banderas and Mark Strong.

“The Reluctant Fundamentalist” was filmed in Atlanta, Delhi, Istanbul, New York City and Lahore, Pakistan, in 2011.

Bart Walker at Cinetic and Hal Sadoff for the Doha Film Institute are handling the film’s North American rights. K5 is handling international rights.

Comments