Noah Media Group, a specialist in feature-length sports documentaries, has acquired international sales rights to feature documentary “The Australian Dream,” about the Australian Football League star Adam Goodes. The deal excludes rights to Australia, Canada, the U.K. and airlines.
Noah will sell the film through its international sales and distribution arm Noah X. This marks the first time that a third-party project will be sold by the company, and reinforces its commitment to showcasing acclaimed sports documentaries.
Directed by BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Daniel Gordon (“Hillsborough”), written by Walkley award-winning journalist Stan Grant, and produced by Oscar- and BAFTA-winner John Battsek (“Searching for Sugar Man”), “The Australian Dream” tells Goodes’ story through his journey during the 2013-15 AFL season, while also exploring race, identity and belonging in Australian society today.
The critically acclaimed film received a theatrical release in Australia last year and won the AACTA for best documentary. It also screened at a number of international film festivals including Telluride, Toronto and the London Film Festival, and went on to win the audience award at the Melbourne, Palm Springs and Hawaii film festivals. Dogwoof will release the film theatrically in the U.K., while the BBC has acquired exclusive U.K. television rights to the documentary.
Tommy Gordon and Joel Kennedy of Lorton Entertainment and Noah’s head of international sales Catherine Quantschnigg negotiated the deal.
Quantschnigg said: “’The Australian Dream’ is a thought-provoking story on how we can become more united as a people, something which has never been more important than now.”
Gordon and Kennedy added: “’The Australian Dream’ is an incredibly powerful story about a shared history and our failures to reconcile and how we can become better, as individuals and as a society.”
Noah’s sales slate continues to grow following last year’s launch of its international sales arm. Its slate includes the 2019 SJA TV/film documentary winner “Take His Legs,” which aired on Channel 4 in the U.K. in December and charts Australian comedian Adam Hill’s formation of the world’s first physical disability rugby league team; Cannes Official Selection feature “Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans”; critically-acclaimed cricket documentary “The Edge”; and ITV’s “Out of Their Skin,” the history of black British soccer.
Following the success of “Bobby Robson: More Than a Manager,” winner of 2018’s SJA best TV/film documentary award, Noah Media Group is in production on the feature-length documentary about the England World Cup winner and Ireland manager Jack Charlton.