After much success in Canada with the controversial French film Baise Moi, Remstar Distribution has acquired its u.s. rights.

Remstar’s Canadian release of Baise Moi (Rape Me) grossed an impressive $27,000 on two screens during in its opening weekend in Quebec, in mid-September.

The film opened on seven more screens at the end of September, including an English-subtitled version at Paramount Cinemas Downtown Montreal. But earlier this month, after an offended moviegoer broke into the projection room at the Parisian Theatre in downtown Montreal, tore the film out of the projector, threatened to bomb the theatre and took off in a fit of rage, Famous Players pulled the film from all nine theatres.

Baise moi, which to date has grossed more than $250,000 and has been banned in Europe, is currently in front of the film review boards in b.c. and Ontario. Remstar expects to hear a verdict by the end of October on whether the film will be allowed on screens.

Meantime, Remstar is planning simultaneous releases for English Canada and the u.s. and wants screenings to start in February 2001, at the latest. The company says it should be able to name a u.s. distribution partner by November.

The film, directed by Virginie Despentes and Corahlie Trin Thi, and produced by Paris’ Wild Bunch, is an emotionally charged tale of two women – a hardened young waif who is violently raped by her peers and a tough-skinned prostitute who sells her body but refuses to give up her soul – whose chance meeting changes their destinies. *