 LOS ANGELES, March 21 — College comedy film “Dear White People”, winner of the Sundance festival’s breakout talent award, has been signed by the distributor of “The Hunger Games”, “The Cabin in the Woods” and “Weeds.” Santa Monica’s Lionsgate Entertainment acquired the film two months after director Justin Simien won the Special Jury Award at Sundance in January. His film “Dear White People” follows four black students at Winchester University, a fictional Ivy League institution. While there, a riot breaks out when a white frat house puts on an African-American themed party, and forces each main character to re-evaluate their own stance to campus racial issues. Hailed as an incisive yet entertaining comedy, the leading quartet of “Dear White People” contains Tyler James Williams (Chris from “Everybody Hates Chris”), Tessa Thompson (“Veronica Mars”, “Heroes”), Teyonah Parris (“Mad Men”) and Brandon Bell (“Hollywood Heights”). “Persistently funny” and a “bonafide satire of the Obama age”, read IndieWire’s Sundance review; “a cheeky provocation wrapped in a zingy punchline”, proclaimed The Hollywood Reporter; Variety called Simien “a fresh and funny new voice”. The film’s intelligence and wit even extends to Simien’s choice of distributor — Thompson’s character, Sam, gets involved in a protest against well-known black actor and director Tyler Perry; Thompson played a supporting role in Perry’s “For Coloured Girls”, while Perry enjoys a ten-year partnership with Lionsgate. How’s that for meta? With “Dear White People” wrapped up and well-received, a fall 2014 release is within expectation. Before that, Simien takes it to the Museum of Modern Art’s March 19-30 New Directors / New Films festival this weekend, with screenings on today and on Sunday. — AFP-Relaxnews
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