Picturehouse Entertainment has acquires U.K. distribution rights from FilmNation Entertainment for Justin Simien’s “Bad Hair,” which will be released in British movie theaters on Nov. 27.
The film received its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, following in the footsteps of Simien’s directorial debut “Dear White People” in 2014.
A satirical horror movie set in 1989, “Bad Hair” follows an ambitious young woman (Elle Lorraine) who gets a weave in order to succeed in the image-obsessed world of music television. However, her flourishing career comes at great cost when she realizes that her new hair may have a mind of its own.
In addition to Elle Lorraine’s breakout leading role, the ensemble cast includes Vanessa Williams (“Soul Food”), Lena Waithe (“Master of None”), Laverne Cox (“Orange Is the New Black”), Jay Pharoah (“Unsane,” “Saturday Night Live”), Kelly Rowland, Blair Underwood (“Set It Off”), James Van Der Beek (“Dawson’s Creek”), Chanté Adams (“The Photograph”) and Usher.
The film is written and directed by Simien, who also serves as a producer alongside Julia Lebedev, Angel Lopez, and Eddie Vaisman. Executive producers include Leonid Lebedev, Oren Moverman, and Alex G. Scott. The film is produced by Sight Unseen in association with Culture Machine.
The acquisition was negotiated by Clare Binns and Paul Ridd of Picturehouse Entertainment with Rob Carney from FilmNation Entertainment.
Clare Binns, joint managing director of Picturehouse, said: “We all need a smart, genre-busting horror film and this one gets it spot on. With a super-cool cast and directed by the immensely talented Justin Simien, it felt a perfect fit for Picturehouse Entertainment. This is a film that goes where other films fail to reach!”
Upcoming Picturehouse Entertainment titles include Phyllida Lloyd’s “Herself,” Quentin Dupieux’s “Deerskin,” Maria Sødahl’s “Hope” and Jerry Rothwell’s “The Reason I Jump.”