Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired U.S. rights to Alex Thompson’s SAINT FRANCES, a film written by and starring Kelly O’Sullivan. The film premiered at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award in the Narrative Feature Competition as well as a Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Voice. Its international premiere took place at the Champs-Elysees Film Festival, where it was awarded the Critics’ Prize and the Audience Award for the Narrative American competition. Oscilloscope will release the film in theaters before a roll out to digital platforms.
Flailing thirty-four-year-old Bridget (Kelly O’Sullivan) finally catches a break when she lands a much-needed job nannying six-year-old Frances (a scene-stealing Ramona Edith-Williams) and meets an actual nice guy. But an unwanted pregnancy introduces an unexpected complication. Just as Bridget ends the pregnancy, with no time to even recover, she clashes with the obstinate Frances and struggles to navigate a growing tension between Frances’ moms. Amidst her tempestuous personal relationships, a reluctant friendship with Frances emerges, and Bridget contends with the inevitable joys and shit-shows of becoming a part of someone else’s family.
Of the acquisition, filmmaker Alex Thompson says, “I’ve admired Oscilloscope’s good taste and rebellious spirit my entire adult life. SAINT FRANCES is a summer movie, but with sunscreen and blood in equal measure. No one but O-Scope’s gonna pull that off. The whole team is thrilled; it’s bound to be a radical, exciting domestic release.”
O-Scope’s Dan Berger says, “Alex and Kelly have created a story that deals with a host of complicated elements that millions of people face every day, and managed to flesh them all out in a truthful and probing way. No element feels undeveloped. Myriad stories that are normally given short shrift are given a crucial voice here. This is some good shit!”
The film was produced by James Choi, Pierce Cravens, Ian Keiser, Eddie Linker, and Raphael Nash. Ryan Kampe of Visit Films negotiated the sale on behalf of the filmmakers.
Oscilloscope Laboratories is a film production and distribution entity launched in 2008 by Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys. Yauch modeled the company after the indie record labels he grew up around, choosing films and releasing them with the same artistic integrity with which they were made. The company, an extension of Yauch’s recording studio of the same name, has an in-house DVD distribution and production arm, and its paper packaging is reminiscent of the heyday of LP record jackets. Previous and current releases include Lynne Ramsay’s Golden Globe®-nominated WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly; Marshall Curry’s Oscar®-nominated IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT; Oren Moverman’s Oscar®-nominated THE MESSENGER starring Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson; Kelly Reichardt’s MEEK’S CUTOFF starring Michelle Williams; Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson’s SAMSARA; Todd Berger’s IT’S A DISASTER, starring David Cross, Julia Stiles, and America Ferrara; Andrew Dosunmu’s Sundance-winning MOTHER OF GEORGE; Martha Shane and Lana Wilson’s AFTER TILLER; Lotfy Nathan’s 12 O’CLOCK BOYS; Dan Krauss’s THE KILL TEAM; James Byrkit’s COHERENCE; Florian Habicht’s PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH AND SUPERMARKETS; Joel Potrykus’s BUZZARD and THE ALCHEMIST COOKBOOK; Maxime Giroux’s FELIX AND MEIRA; Anna Muylaert’s THE SECOND MOTHER; Alice Rohrwacher’s THE WONDERS; re-releases of Manfred Kirchheimer’s STATIONS OF THE ELEVATED and Charlie Ahearn’s JAMEL SHABAZZ STREET PHOTOGRAPHER; Ciro Guerra’s Oscar®-nominated EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT; a re-release of Kelly Reichardt’s debut feature RIVER OF GRASS; Anna Rose Holmer’s THE FITS; Anna Biller’s THE LOVE WITCH; Sophia Takal’s ALWAYS SHINE; Ceyda Torun’s KEDI; Bill Ross and Turner Ross’s CONTEMPORARY COLOR; Asaph Polonsky’s ONE WEEK AND A DAY; Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon’s LOST IN PARIS; Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio’s MAY IT LAST: A PORTRAIT OF THE AVETT BROTHERS; Viktor Jakovleski’s BRIMSTONE & GLORY; Dmitrii Kalashnikov’s THE ROAD MOVIE; Rainer Sarnet’s NOVEMBER; Carla Simón’s SUMMER 1993; Matthew Porterfield’s SOLLERS POINT; Eugene Jarecki’s THE KING; Josephine Decker’s MADELINE’S MADELINE; Amy Scott’s HAL; Alexandria Bombach’s ON HER SHOULDERS; Margarethe von Trotta’s SEARCHING FOR INGMAR BERGMAN; Suzannah Herbert and Lauren Belfer’s WRESTLE; a re-release of Christopher Munch’s THE HOURS AND TIMES; Miles Lagoze’s COMBAT OBSCURA; Joel Potrykus’s RELAXER; Jill Magid’s THE PROPOSAL; and Stephen Wilkes’s JAY MYSELF. Upcoming releases include: Justin Chon’s MS. PURPLE; a film by Hassan Fazili and Emelie Mahdavian called MIDNIGHT TRAVELER; Jon Kasbe’s WHEN LAMBS BECOME LIONS; Ben Mullinkosson’s DON’T BE A DICK ABOUT IT; and Matthew Rankin’s THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
