Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Releasing has acquired the worldwide rights to Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn’s The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open.

A Canada/Norway copro between Hepburn and Tyler Hagan’s Vancouver-based banner Experimental Forest Films, Vancouver’s Violator Films, Norway’s Oslo Pictures and Tannhauser Gate, the drama follows Áila (played by Tailfeathers), a woman who comforts a stranger she finds crying in the street after a traumatic event, bringing her into her home. The Vancouver-shot film is inspired by a real life experience Tailfeathers had and marks her directorial debut.

The deal was negotiated by Hagan and Violator Films’ Lori Lozinski on behalf of the filmmakers with Gordon Bobb of law firm Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano for ARRAY. Lozinski told Playback Daily that the film will be released this fall by levelFILM in Canada, Another World in Norway and ARRAY internationally.

In December, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open was selected to world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, competing in its Generation’s 14plus section. Earlier this month, the film made its North American debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, earning an honourable mention for the festival’s Best Canadian Feature prize.

The drama starring Tailfeathers, Violet Nelson, Charlie Hannah, Barbara Eve Harris and Jay Cardinal Villeneuve is set to make its B.C. premiere tomorrow (Sept. 28) at the Vancouver International Film Festival. The copro will then make its U.S. debut at the Mill Valley Film Festival this October.

The film received funding from Telefilm Canada, CBC Films (formerly the Breaking Barriers Film Fund), the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO), the Norwegian Film Institute, International Sami Film Institute, The Harold Greenberg Fund and Creative BC. Telus Storyhive also provided support towards an Indigenous youth mentorship program to coincide with the film.

The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open is produced by Hagan, Lozinski, Alan R. Milligan. Dyveke Bjørkly Graver serves as a co-producer.

Image courtesy of TIFF