WellGo USA has acquired all North American distribution rights to the Australian sci-fi thriller “Monolith,” starring Lily Sullivan (Evil Dead Rise, I Met a Girl, Picnic at Hanging Rock). The film debuted at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2022 and recently had its international premiere as part of SXSW’s Midnighters section.
Rights were licensed from XYZ Films which previously boarded for North America, while the U.K.-based Blue Finch Films handles sales in the rest of the world. Bonsai Films is handling distribution in the film’s home Australian market.
The deal was brokered by Pip Ngo and Peter Van Steemburg of XYZ Films on behalf of the filmmakers and by Brennan Lane on behalf of Well Go USA.
The story tracks a disgraced journalist (portrayed by Sullivan) as she tries to salvage her career by turning to investigative podcasting. While trying to get to bottom of a strange artefact that may be linked to an alien conspiracy, she begins to uncover the lies at the heart of her own story.
“Monolith” was directed by Matt Vesely, written by Lucy Campbell and produced by Bettina Hamilton and was filmed across a three-week period in one location in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills.
” ‘Monolith’ brilliantly leverages its breath-taking sole location to construct a captivating and immersive world that draws viewers in from the very beginning,” said Brennan Lane, director of acquisitions and production at Well Go USA. “Built on a foundation of masterful writing alongside visual and audio storytelling approaches that sustain suspense throughout, ‘Monolith’ is a gripping, well-executed and original genre film.”
Read Variety’s review here.
The film was developed and produced through the FilmLab: New Voices program, an initiative run by the South Australian Film Corporation and the Adelaide Film Festival, financed with the assistance of Screen Australia, designed to develop and elevate first time South Australian feature filmmakers.
“In Well Go we feel we have continued to find partners who really believe in the film, as XYZ Films did when they came onboard for sales. ‘Monolith’ has had a great festival response from audiences and we can’t wait to share it further,” said Hamilton, producer at Black Cat White Rabbit Productions.