For those of you out there who only know about Iceland because of Bjork, Sigur Ros, and the fact that its capital city’s name is difficult to pronounce, add Jar City to your list. In one of the earliest sales from the Toronto International Film Festival, IFC snagged the highest-grossing homegrown film in the history of the land of fire and ice.
Baltasar Kormákur‘s crime drama tells the story of a man who searches for the reason his daughter died of a rare disease not in his heritage. The title refers to a repository for preserved body parts that figures prominently in the story.
Kormakur’s previous work includes the comedy 101 Reykjavik, and A Little Trip To Heaven, which stars Forest Whitaker. The film will be released as part of IFC’s First Take program, in which movies are released in theaters and on-demand on the same day.
In other Toronto acquisition news, ThinkFilm appears to be mad about Helen Hunt‘s directorial debut Then She Found Me, starring Hunt, Bette Midler, and Colin Firth. Insiders say the film was purchased for $2 million, with the Weinstein Co. and Lionsgate also interested in the movie.
In addition, Strand Releasing picked up Before I Forget, directed by and starring Jacques Nolot. Nolot plays a writer dealing with drug and alcohol issues.
