There's a new film company in town – sort of. Adopt Films is a new independent distribution company formed by October Films honcho Jeff Lipsky with Tim Grady and Karen Sternal, board members of the Film Society of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The company will be run from Lipsky's New York City offices, with the Twin Cities principals sharing executive responsibilities.
"The potential for such a company has never been as present as it is now," Lipsky said in a phone interview. He predicts that Adopt's "high-quality mix of documentaries, foreign language films and English language narratives" will appeal to a generation of Baby Boomers who now find themselves with empty nests, disposable income and time on their hands. He said it's not unrealistic for the new venture to aim to capture 10 percent of the U.S. arthouse market eventually.
Sternal said she expects Adopt to be known for "edgy, provocative" fare and its first two acquisitions fulfill that adventurous mission. Marie Losier's Berlin Film Festival award-winning documantary "The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye" details the quixotic relationship between a pioneering art rocker and his wife and muse. The couple shared a fascination with body modification and underwent a series of cosmetic surgeries to refashion themselves in one another's image. The film opens in Minneapolis April 6.
"Nuit #1," an erotically charged romantic drama from French Canadian filmmaker Anne Émond, is scheduled for a late summer release. Lipsky predicted the festival hit "is going to have moviegoing couples leaving pheromone trails in theatres all summer long." The Adopt team will make buying trips to the Sundance, Toronto and Berlin film festivals, aiming to release three to four films in 2012 and twice as many in 2013, Lipsky said.
