FilmRise has acquired two female-led films directed by women in the span of a couple of days. Variety reports that the Brooklyn-based company has secured worldwide VOD and digital rights to Ingrid Jungermann’s award-winning “Women Who Kill” and a press release announced that they’ve also nabbed exclusive worldwide rights to Julie Sokolow’s “Woman On Fire,” a portrait of a history-making trans woman.
“Women Who Kill” premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, where the comedy-thriller took home the narrative feature screenplay award. The film is “a love triangle between two true crime podcasters and a potential murderer,” writer-director Jungermann told us. The story was inspired by her “unhealthy obsession with ‘Serial,’ … history of failed relationships, and a desire to deconstruct romantic comedy structure. I wanted to make a movie that felt both familiar and foreign and tap into the universal problem of loneliness,” she explained.
Jungermann co-created “The Slope” and created “F to 7th,” both of which are web series.
“Women Who Kill” stars Annette O’Toole (“Halt and Catch Fire”), Tami Sagher (“Inside Amy Schumer”), Sheila Vand (“24: Legacy”), and Jungermann, and will be released theatrically by Film Collaborative, a non-profit. No word on when it will hit theaters.
“It is an honor to work with FilmRise and The Film Collaborative and we are all thrilled to share ‘Women Who Kill’ with audiences everywhere,” said Jungermann. “I wanted to make a film that took my appreciation of classic film genres — romantic comedies, mysteries, and a dash of horror — and twist it up into something that resembles a heightened version of my own life experience.”
“Woman On Fire” made its world premiere at DOC NYC in 2016. The film follows Brooke Guinan, New York City’s first openly transgender firefighter. The doc “captures Brooke’s transition and her struggle for acceptance in what is still an overwhelmingly male-dominated profession,” according to its official synopsis.
“I first learned about Brooke when a photo of her went viral. She’s standing tall in her firefighting helmet and a shirt that reads, ‘So Trans So What,’ Sokolow recalled in an interview with us. “The photo was accompanied by interviews with Brooke and her father George, a respected FDNY lieutenant with 35 years on the job. He’s also a devout Christian and Republican.” The director explained, “Brooke and her father’s relationship seemed to embody the polarized political forces in America today. I wanted to explore what it was like for them to coexist in the same family and workplace.”
Sokolow’s other directing credits include docs “The John Show” and “Aspie Seeks Love.”
To coincide with Pride Month, “Woman On Fire” will have a public screening June 5 at BAM Rose Cinemas. Guinan will be honored as a Grand Marshal of this year’s LGBT Pride March in NYC.
“We feel privileged to be able to share Brooke Guinan’s remarkable story of strength and resilience,” said Danny Fisher, CEO of FilmRise. “Julie Sokolow has crafted a sincere and timely documentary that we believe will resonate with viewers everywhere.”
Further release info about “Woman On Fire” has yet to be announced.
