Mk2 Films has taken on leading distributors worldwide for “Reality,” Tina Satter’s feature film debut starring Sidney Sweeney, on the heels of a tumultuous world premiere at the Berlinale.
The film, which bowed in the panorama department, stars Sweeney (“White Lotus,” “Euphoria”) as Reality Winner, a 25-year-old detective who spent five years in prison during the Trump administration. Weiner, a former member of the US Air Force and translator for the National Security Agency, was found guilty of leaking a classified report on Russian election interference to the media.
The film is based on Satter’s 2019 stage play “Is This a Room” and contains verbatim dialogue from an unedited version of an FBI audio recording. Reality captures 90 tense and surreal minutes of the FBI’s interrogation of Weiner at her home in 2017.
The Paris-based company has closed a series of major deals, selling the film to France (Metropolitan), the United Kingdom (Vertigo), Italy (Lucky Red), Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland (Blaion), Benelux (September), Japan (Transformer), Scandinavia (Selmer Media), Spain (Filmin), Latin America (Imagem), Greece (Spentzos), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Eastern Europe (M2), Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic), Turkey (Filmarti), Israel (Nashson) Middle East and North Africa (front row), Australia/New Zealand (Kismet), Hong Kong (EDCO), Taiwan (Tsai Chang) and Airlines (SKY). Discussions are ongoing with South Korea and Southeast Asia.
As previously announced, HBO Films has acquired the North American rights in a deal with UTA Independent Film Group and WME Independent.
The film received unanimously strong reviews, with Jessica Kiang of Variety calling it “a deeply compelling cinematic performance” and “a smart and engaging docudrama”.
Sweeney’s performances, including Kiang’s, were also praised by critics who called him “revelatory” and “brilliant”, with “every flicker of emotion, partial reaction, evasiveness and backtracking.” [being] Totally believable.”
“Reality” is produced by Noah Stahl, Brad Baker-Barton, Reva Marker, and Greg Nobile. Executive produced by Ellen Daniels, Will O’Connor, Daniel Ginsberg, Andrew Beck, Belle Way, Elliot Wheaton, Eva Maria Daniels, Philip Englehorn, Caitlin Gould, and Tina Sater. The film was produced by David Duque Estrada and Rita Walsh. It is a Seaview and 2 SQ FT production in association with Burn These Words Productions, In The Cut, Fit Via Vi, Cinereach and Tanbark Pictures.
