ARCLIGHT FILMS PLOTS DANIEL RADCLIFFE’S; COMPANY CO-FINANCING AND REPPING WORLDWIDE SALES

Beverly Hills, CA (February 9, 2019) Leading entertainment and international sales company Arclight Films has come on board to co-finance the true-life prison break feature film Escape from Pretoria along with Magna Entertainment, it was announced today by Arclight chairman Gary Hamilton. The company is also repping worldwide rights to the feature which stars

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, Jungle, The Woman in Black).

Currently in pre-production, Francis Annan makes his directorial debut from the screenplay he co-penned with LH Adams based on Tim Jenkin’s autobiography Inside Out: Escape from Pretoria Prison.

Based on the extraordinary true story of Tim Jenkin (Radcliffe) and Stephen Lee, Escape From Pretoria follows two twenty-something white South Africans branded ‘terrorists’ and imprisoned in 1978 for being involved in covert anti-apartheid operations for the ANC (African National Congress). Incarcerated in Pretoria Maximum Security Prison (the white man’s Robben Island), Jenkin and Lee – joined by a fellow inmate – decide to send the regime a clear message and escape. After months of meticulous surveillance, breath-taking ingenuity, and in a race against time as the authorities strengthen the prison security defenses, the group craft wooden keys for each of the 10 steel doors between them and freedom.

“Escape From Pretoria is an inspiring story which we are delighted to be a part of,” says Arclight’s Hamilton. “Having worked with Daniel Radcliffe previously, his superb skill as an actor is the perfect fit to tell this timely and extraordinary tale of courage and social morality. Buyers are already excited for this project which will undoubtedly be a hit in the international marketplace.”

“Footprint Films and BeaglePug are thrilled to be working with Arclight Films and Magna Entertainment to bring to life one of the most daring and ingenious prison escapes of the twentieth century.” say UK Producers David Barron, Mark Blaney and Jackie Sheppard. “We’re also very excited to be working with the immensely talented Francis Annan on this astonishing true story. Much more than just another prison break thriller, Escape From Pretoria is a story of our time, a story of risking everything in the fight for freedom and equality, against injustice and oppression.”

Escape from Pretoria is an Australian/UK co-production, financed with the assistance of the South Australia Film Corporation, and is produced by BeaglePug’s David Barron (Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella, Harry Potter, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein), Footprint Films’ Mark Blaney (This is Not A Love Song, Africa United) and Jackie Sheppard (Africa United), and Arclight’s Hamilton and Michelle Krumm.

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ABOUT MAGNA ENTERTAINMENT

Magna Entertainment is a New York-based investment firm dedicated to creating and financing aspirational and compelling independent content across film, television, music, and new media formats. Since 2013, the firm has supported world-class producers, rights holders, and creative entrepreneurs through a flexible approach to financing. For more information, please visit www.mag.na/entertainment

ABOUT BEAGLEPUG

David Barron formed BeaglePug in 2013 as a development and production vehicle primarily for his own projects. Credits to date are Cinderella for Disney, The Legend of Tarzan for Warner Bros and the independent noir thriller Terminal, staring Margot Robbie, Simon Pegg and Mike Myers. BeaglePug has an active development slate, encompassing original material and literary adaptations for both film and television.

ABOUT FOOTPRINT FILMS

Established in 1994, Footprint Films is a partnership between producers Mark Blaney and Jackie Sheppard. Features include the directorial debut of screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, The Darkest Light (Pathé/BBC Films/Studio Canal) and the world’s first simultaneous theatrical and online release, in 2002, This Is Not A Love Song (UK FILM COUNCIL/Footprint). Including their 2010 feature Africa United (Pathé, BBC Films, BFI) which saw emerging talent Debs Paterson directing, many of Footprint’s features have been helmed by first time feature directors, something Jackie and Mark encourage through their support of, and consultancy to, The Pitch Film Fund. Footprint has produced a number of notable short films including the multi-award winning I Am Sami, shot in Kurdistan (N Iraq). Other projects in development include British comedy Sumo Girls.

ABOUT ARCLIGHT FILMS

Arclight Films is one of the world’s leading international sales companies for theatrical, television and home entertainment. Arclight Films has sold over 300 motion pictures including the Best Picture Oscar® winner Crash, and Golden Globe® Best Picture Nominee Bobby and Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto and Ethan Hawke.

Arclight Films’ slate includes the big budget Chinese co-production Killer 10 to be directed by Phillip Noyce, the sci-fi thriller Possessor starring Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott, directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the female-led Vietnamese action thriller Furie starring Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s Veronica Ngo, and the high-octane sci-fi thriller Replicate.

The company’s recent films include the highly anticipated Hotel Mumbai starring Armie Hammer, Dev Patel, Nazanin Boniadi, Anupam Kher, and Jason Isaacs, directed by Anthony Maras which will be released in the US by Bleecker Street on March 22nd, writer and director Paul Schrader’s critically acclaimed First Reformed released theatrically by A24, starring Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried, and has received several nominations and awards including the Academy Award, Gotham Awards, Critics’ Choice Award and the Indie Spirit Awards, among other accolades, and the successful biopic Jungle starring Daniel Radcliffe released by eOne.

Arclight’s past films include 2016 Official Cannes Directors’ Fortnight selection Dog Eat Dog starring Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe, The Confirmation starring Clive Owen and Maria Bello, directed by Academy Award-winner Bob Nelson (Nebraska), 2016 Sundance Official Selection Frank & Lola starring Imogen Poots and Michael Shannon, Predestination starring Ethan Hawke released through Sony Pictures, Last Knights starring Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman, Paper Planes starring Sam Worthington, and Shangri-La Suite starring Emily Browning and Luke Grimes.

Arclight Films additionally encompasses subsidiary labels Darclight Films, the edgy genre-driven division of the company whose films include the worldwide horror hits Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek 2 and action thriller Bait 3D (the highest grossing Australian film in the history of Chinese cinema), and Easternlight, a specialty arm showcasing Asian cinema with the largest film library of any non-Asian-based indie film label. Films sold under the Easternlight banner include the worldwide blockbuster Forbidden Kingdom starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, 14 Blades starring Donnie Yen, and legendary auteur Chen Kaige’s Sacrifice.

The latest additions to Easternlight include Triple Threat starring Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Tiger Chen and Celina Jade, Guardians Of The Tomb starring Kellen Lutz and Bingbing Li, Snow Girl And The Dark Crystal starring Bingbing Li, Wolf Warrior starring Wu Jing (which opened #1 at the Chinese Box Office, earning more than $32.5M in one weekend) Outcast starring Nicolas Cage, Special Id Starring Donnie Yen, and Badges Of Fury.

Arclight Films maintains a presence at all major motion picture and television festivals and markets with offices in Los Angeles, Sydney, Hong Kong, Beijing and Toronto. For more information on Arclight Films please visit www.arclightfilms.com.

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