Indie distributor Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights for Berlin-based U.S. director and literary translator Ted Fendt’s “Foreign Travel” that will have its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival next month.
“Foreign Travel,” which launched from Berlin’s Forum section in February, is a portrait of a group of people linked together by friendship and a passion for the books of Italian writer Anna Maria Ortese. Shot over the course of a one-year period in Berlin and Potsdam, it revolves around a young woman named Leonia who, “after returning from a trip to Naples where she sought to forget her past,” dives deep into Ortese’s body of work, according to the synopsis. “She and her friends meet to discuss Ortese’s books ‘The Port of Toledo’ and ‘Iguana,’,” it adds, “revealing the fine line between a passion for literature as a way of engaging with the world and a way of sublimating one’s demons.”
“At once hermetic and open, ascetic and sensuous, Fendt’s fourth feature is a beautiful evolution of the work he’s been making for over a decade,” said Cinema Guild’s Edward McCarry in a statement. “We’re delighted to help bring this film—and by extension all of Fendt’s films—to a larger audience.”
Fendt’s previous films include “Short Stay” (2016), “Classical Period” (2018), and “Outside Noise” (2021).
Cinema Guild is planning to release “Foreign Travel” theatrically on a new 16mm print in 2027.
The deal was negotiated by Edward McCarry and Peter Kelly of Cinema Guild with Hans Broich of Superzoom Film.
Cinema Guild’s upcoming releases include Hong Sangsoo’s “The Day She Returns” and “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes” and Éric Baudelaire’s “For the Moon.”