FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 11, 2020

Cinema Guild acquires Bas Devos’ festival favorite Ghost Tropic

NEW YORK, NY-Cinema Guild announced today the acquisition of all North American distribution rights for Bas Devos’ Ghost Tropic. The third feature from Belgian director Devos, Ghost Tropic made its world premiere as part of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight before screening the Viennale and Rotterdam. It will make its New York premiere next month as part of First Look at Museum of the Moving Image before opening in theaters later in the year.

The film follows Khadija (Saadia Bentaïeb), a fifty-eight-year-old Maghrebi cleaning woman living in Brussels in the wake of the 2016 bombings that shook the city. After work one night, she falls asleep on the last subway train, wakes up at the end of the line and has no choice but to make her way home—all the way across the city—on foot. Along the way, she has a series of encounters: with a security guard, a convenience store clerk, a group of teenagers. She asks for help and she gives it and slowly, steadily makes her way.

Director Bas Devos’s lightness of touch combines with the richness of Grimm Vanderkerckhove’s 16mm images to create a small wonder of humanistic storytelling. Ghost Tropic is a testament to the everyday drama of immigrant life and insists on the possibility of goodness and beauty, even in the dark of night.

“When we first saw Ghost Tropic, it took us on an immersive journey through a side of contemporary Europe we hadn’t seen on film before,” said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. “We can’t wait for audiences to take the trip with us.”

The deal was negotiated by Peter Kelly of Cinema Guild with Meng Xie of Rediance Films.

Cinema Guild is a premier distributor of world cinema, independent films and documentaries, whose upcoming releases include Angela Schanelec's I Was at Home, But..., Albert Serra’s Liberté and Kazik Radwanski's Anne at 13,000 ft. Recent theatrical releases include Wang Xiaoshuai’s Chinese Portrait, Lindsey Cordero and Armando Croda’s I’m Leaving Now and RaMell Ross’s Academy Award-nominated Hale County This Morning, This Evening.

For press inquiries, please contact us at:

(212) 685-6242 or press at cinemaguild dot com

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