PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—Artsploitation Films, founded earlier this year by TLA Entertainment Inc. president Raymond Murray, has announced the acquisition of the Serbian film Clip, directed by Maja Milos, for the U.S..
Artsploitation Films was founded to showcase edgy international cinema, but even considering this, the Serbian drama Clip is bound to be the company’s most controversial release: the film was just banned in Russia. A startling, sexually graphic study of a teenage girl in a grim Belgrade suburb, debuting writer-director Maja Milos’ film was a Tiger Award-winning smash at this year’s Rotterdam Film Festival and is about to receive its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Many have been shocked by its content, particularly since Milos has elected to cast an actual 14-year-old girl (Isidora Simijonovic in a breakout first performance) in the lead role of Jasna.
"Isidora is never shown in any way nude," assured Artsploitation's Ray Murray, "and we have photo identification records for her 18-year-old body double/stand-in."
Stuck in a dysfunctional family household, Jasna escapes through heavy alcohol and drug experimentation, partying, and increasingly risky sexual encounters, all the while recording her every exploit on her cell phone. Her sexual escapades are actually reflective of a painful need to connect with people and numb her loneliness.
Following its Toronto festival screening, Clip will play at other festivals in the U.S., including the Chicago International Film Festival and the AFI Fest, prior to its theatrical release from Artsploitation in early 2013, to be followed by a DVD and Blu-ray release.
To view a trailer for Clip, click here.
The film was acquired from Wide Films, whose head of international sales Clementine Hugot commented, “Clip is a real piece of cinema vérité, sensual and controversial! We are sincerely happy that Artsploitation is daringly releasing the film, knowing that they would manage to link the commercial aspect with the social issue, both portrayed in the Tiger Award-winning film. Artsploitation is the perfect company to show a new talent in its domestic market.”
Jennifer Arndt-Johns was the Artsploitation Films negotiator.
Meanwhile, Toronto fest programmer Dimitri Eipides wrote, “A succès de scandale at the Rotterdam film festival, Clip understandably ignited controversy with its unvarnished look at teenage sexuality. But Miloš is not simply a provocateur: she spent years researching and casting the film, talking frankly with teenagers about their own experiences and feelings, and it is this sympathetic insider's perspective that gives Clip its powerful charge. This is not simply a lament for wasted youth, but an intimate account of how sex can become the only form of communication for young people whose situation has denied them a true voice, and the difficulty and pain they face when they try to articulate their feelings with the heart.”
Artsploitation Films is a USA-based film distribution company specializing in international art/genre films. Releases have included Gandu (India, 2010, directed by Q); Hard Romanticker (Japan, 2011, directed by Su-yeon Gu); Vanishing Waves (2012, Lithuania, directed by Kristina Buožytė; Combat Girls (2011, Germany, directed by David Wnendt); and Bullet Collector (Russia, 2011, directed by Alexander Vartanov)
The media contact for Artsploitation Films is Claire Kohler; for acquisitions: Raymond Murray. Please direct festival inquiries to Eric Moore.
