Roadside Attractions has acquired U.S. rights to Paul Dalio’s debut feature TOUCHED WITH FIRE (formerly titled MANIA DAYS) starring Katie Holmes. A critical and audience favorite at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, TOUCHED WITH FIRE “boasts Katie Holmes' best performance in years,” according to the Huffington Post, and is the story of two bipolar poets whose art is fueled by their emotional extremes. When they meet in a psychiatric hospital their romance brings out all the beauty and darkness of their condition until they have to choose between sanity and love.
Holmes and Luke Kirby (TAKE THIS WALTZ) star, and are joined by Griffin Dunne, Christine Lahti and Bruce Altman.
Drawing inspiration from his own life experience and journey with bipolar disorder, Paul Dalio wrote, directed, edited and scored TOUCHED WITH FIRE. The film is produced by Jeremy Alter and Kristina Nikolova Dalio, who also served as the film’s co-cinematographer.
Spike Lee joined the project as Executive Producer after serving as Dalio’s professor at NYU Film School.
“TOUCHED WITH FIRE is a striking debut with fantastic performances. Paul has clearly put his heart and soul into this project and audiences will connect with it. We’re thrilled to be releasing,” says Roadside Attractions co-president Howard Cohen.
"I'm grateful that Roadside has put their faith in my film. They are an extraordinary company and their passion for the film and strong vision for its release were immediately clear. I know they will give this film a chance to have its greatest possible impact," says Paul Dalio.
"Roadside Attractions has an impeccable history as an innovative distributor and caretaker of both its films and filmmakers. We are very excited to be partnering with them in bringing Paul's unique vision to the screen," added Jeremy Alter on behalf of the producers.
The deal was negotiated by Laura Lewis and Nick Ogiony at CAA and Craig Emanuel at Loeb & Loeb on behalf of the filmmakers and Howard Cohen on behalf of Roadside Attractions.
International rights are being shopped at Cannes.
ABOUT ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS
In its eleventh year of operation, ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS films have grossed over $185M and garnered thirteen Academy Award® nominations. Roadside has released such critical and commercial hits as All Is Lost, Mud, Winter’s Bone, The Cove, Arbitrage, Margin Call and Super-Size Me. Its upcoming slate includes Bill Pohlad’s Love & Mercy starring John Cusack, Paul Dano and Elizabeth Banks, and Bill Condon’s Mr. Holmes starring Ian McKellen and Laura Linney.
ABOUT MOONSTRUCK
Moonstruck is a New York based production company started by Paul Dalio and Kristina Nikolova Dalio, a husband and wife filmmaking team. The two met at NYU film school and worked on each other’s student films as friends and classmates. TOUCHED WITH FIRE marks the launch of Moonstruck which will serve as a platform for a lifelong collaboration working on each other’s films. They are currently co-writing their next feature, which Kristina will direct, scheduled to go into production early 2016 and have two other scripts in development.
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