Kino Lorber: THE ROCKET

Date: May 17, 2013

Winner of top prizes at last month's Tribeca Film Festival and 2013 Berlinale to open across the U.S. and Canada this Fall

CANNES – May 17, 2013 - Kino Lorber is pleased to announce that it has acquired all U.S. and Canadian rights to THE ROCKET, the critically acclaimed first feature film by director and writer Kim Mordaunt focused on a boy's journey to escape his poor circumstances by entering a rocket building contest in Laos.

A still from The Rocket

Produced by Sylvia Wilczynski at Red Lamp Films, with funding from Screen Australia, the film had its US premiere at this year's Tribeca Film Festival and won the festival's top three narrative accolades: Best Narrative Feature prize, the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film and the Best Actor in a Narrative Feature award (given to 10-year-old Sitthiphon Disamoe). At this year's Berlinale, THE ROCKET also won the "Crystal Bear" (Generation Kplus prize for Best Film) as well as the Best First Feature award and The Amnesty International Award.

After a run of prestigious festival dates, Kino Lorber is planning a national theatrical release for this critics and crowd-pleasing film during the fall, followed by a digital, VOD and home media release in 2014.KinoLorber CEO Richard Lorber negotiated the deal for the film with Natja Noviani Rosner, LevelK's Sales Director.

A co-production between Australia, Laos and Thailand, THE ROCKET is set in contemporary Laos and tells the story of a boy named Ahlo (beautifully played by Sitthiphon Disamoe) who is believed to be a bearer of bad luck and is therefore blamed for a string of disasters – including his mother's death. When his family loses their home and is forced to move, Ahlo meets the spirited orphan Kia and her eccentric uncle Purple: an ex-soldier with a purple suit, a rice-wine habit and an unbridled love for James Brown.

Struggling to hang onto his father's trust, Ahlo leads his family, Purple and Kia through a land scarred by war in search of a new home. But bad luck seems to follow Ahlo, and in a last plea to prove he's not cursed, Ahlo builds a giant explosive rocket to enter the most lucrative but dangerous competition of the year: The Rocket Festival.

Richard Lorber, CEO of Kino Lorber commented: "The Rocket's first-class filmmaking delivers its rare sense of heart with breathtaking originality. Given its thrilling response during the Tribeca Film Festival, I'm certain that American audiences everywhere will fall in love with this uniquely beautiful and powerful film. We believe a Rocket like this can shoot as high as the Oscars."

Tine Klint, CEO of LevelK added: We are extremely proud of "The Rocket"and thankful to Tribeca for helping us promoting the film. Kino Lorber is a stong distributor with great visions for our film and we are looking forward to working with their passionate team. 

ABOUT KINO LORBER

With a library of over 700 titles, KINO LORBER INC. has been a leader in independent art house distribution for over 30 years, releasing over 20 films per year theatrically under its Kino Lorber, Kino Classics, and Alive Mind Cinema banners, including four Academy Award nominated films in the last six years. In addition, the company brings over 60 titles each year to the home entertainment market with DVD and Blu-ray releases as well as digital distribution on all platforms. Some of its upcoming theatrical releases are the documentary MORE THAN HONEY, directed by Markus Imhoof, and the Sundance hit COMPUTER CHESS, directed by Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha).