Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to “On the Edge,” a Belgian crime thriller by Giordano Gederlini (“Les Miserables”) from Le Pacte.
The deal was negotiated by Kino Lorber senior VP Wendy Lidell and Le Pacte’s head of sales Camille Neel out of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema market. The event, which runs from March 3-13, is hosted by Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center.
“On The Edge” marks the sophomore outing of Gederlini, who co-wrote Ladj Ly’s Oscar-nominated film “Les Miserables.”
The gritty, twisty noir is set in Brussels, where Leo, a Spanish metro driver, sees his estranged son right before he falls onto the rails and dies. After discovering that his son was involved in a bloody heist, Leo sets off to track down the criminals responsible for the murder under the watchful eye of the police.
The film stars Antonio de la Torre (“A Twelve-Year Night”), Marine Vacth (“The Double Lover”) and Olivier Gourmet (“An Officer and a Spy”). Producers are Frakas Production (“Titane”), Noodles Productions, Fasten Films and Eyeworks.
“’On the Edge’ more than lives up to its name,” said Kino Lorber president and CEO Richard Lorber. “It had us perched in our seats from start to finish with its thrilling mix of mystery, action and drama. We can’t wait to share this gritty Belgian neo-noir with North American audiences,” added Lorber, whose recent prestige acquisitions include “Murina,” the Cannes’ Golden Camera winning film directed by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović.
Gederlini said that setting the action in Brussels had a special meaning, not only because the city is at “the heart of Europe.” “It’s where I live and I tried to film my city as a land of exile where the protagonist goes to ‘disappear’ and be forgotten,” added Gederlini.
The writer-director said he approached the film “with a very European aesthetic, a tense and kinetic screenplay, and which was brought to the screen by ‘magnetic’ Spanish, French and Belgian actors.”
Kino Lorber will bring “On the Edge” to U.S. and Canadian theaters in 2022, followed by a release on all major digital platforms including their own platform Kino Now, plus home video.