Toronto-based distributor levelFILM has struck a multi-year output agreement with Free Solo distributor Greenwich Entertainment.

The deal will see levelFILM handle distribution of the New York-based company’s upcoming slate in Canada, beginning with the U.K. documentary The Capote Tapes, directed by former Obama-era White House advisor and newly named Sundance Institute chair Ebs Burnough, on Sept. 10.

The doc, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2019, focuses on late author Truman Capote’s unpublished novel Answered Prayers and includes new interview footage between Capote and friends.

The agreement was negotiated between levelFILM’s head of distribution John Bain and Greenwich co-president Andy Bohn.

Bain tells Playback Daily the output agreement was a natural fit between the two companies. Greenwich’s library of documentaries, especially music documentaries such as Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice and Andrew Slater’s Echo in the Canyon, hit the right note with Canadian audience demand, while levelFILM provides a steady partnership to release films in Canada. “They’re cinephiles,” says Bain. “They have really good taste.”

Greenwich’s past releases include Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo, which grossed more than US$17 million at the North American box office, as well as narrative features The Bookshop, directed by Isabel Coixet, and Wild Nights with Emily, directed by Madeleine Olnek.

Its upcoming slate includes The Rescue, from Free Solo directors Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, about the Thai soccer team trapped in a cave for 16 days; Debbie Lum’s school orchestra documentary Try Harder; and Camilla Nielsson’s doc President, about the 2018 Zimbabwe general election.

The documentary slate for levelFILM includes sports doc The End of the Storm and Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street.

The distributor recently picked up the Canadian rights to Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson’s Scarborough, which had its world premiere at TIFF on Sept. 10. Nakhai and Williamson are partners in Compy Films, a multi-platform media production company based in Toronto.

Image courtesy of TIFF