ThinkFilm has acquired the North American rights to distribute John Cameron Mitchell’s controversial comedy film, Shortbus.
The movie stirred controversy at last month’s Cannes film festival because it featured its actors performing actual sex on camera.
Mitchell has defended the movie, saying the sex is not glorified and was shot to merely show it as a natural part of life rather than to titillate.
The movie delves into the lives of seven straight and gay New Yorkers who gather at an underground club for drinking, partying and sex.
“We pursued Shortbus aggressively from the moment we saw it in Cannes and witnessed the audience’s overwhelming response,” said Mark Urman, head of ThinkFilm’s theatrical division.
“Considering how many offers they received from such a wide variety of distributors, we are extremely pleased and proud that the filmmakers recognized our unique abilities as well as our company-wide enthusiasm for their film.”
The company says it plans to spend about $2 million to distribute the film set for release in the fall, before bringing it to art house theaters around the country, due to its sexually explicit content.
But one competing distributor told the Hollywood Reporter today that distributing such a film would be tricky, saying sales to television networks and to Blockbuster and other large video chains very unlikely.
Urman told the publication that he plans to use the media buzz around the movie to his advantage and release the film as soon as possible.
Mitchell explained that in order to make his movie a reality, he had to forgo the usual casting agents for his actors who would engage in actual sex as part of the movie’s original premise.
He subsequently asked readers of alternative weeklies around the country if they were interested in participating in the film to send in 10-minute videotapes where they talk about a particularly emotionally important sexual experience.
Mitchell received about 500 submissions of which he called back 40 people before he chose nine for the movie.
