AMERICAN VIOLET

Just in time for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, CMG has signed exclusive int’l sales rights to the new gripping civil rights drama American Violet. Samuel Goldwyn Films has slated the film’s domestic platform theatrical release for April 17th with approx 80 prints. Picture is directed by Tim Disney (Tempesta, A Question of Faith), and produced and written by Bill Haney (The Price of Sugar, A Life Among Whales), both partners in production shingle Uncommon Productions. Picture was inspired by an extraordinary true story first reported on National Public Radio (NPR).

CMG President, Edward Noeltner says: “American Violet, much like the American classic In the Heat of the Night did in 1967, powerfully evokes the issues of racial prejudice in America.” Adds Noeltner, “This is also a universal story of those who are powerless but who do not let injustice stand in their way and are willing to fight for what is right…. It’s a must see film!”

The feature stars critically acclaimed newcomer Nicole Beharie (The Express) as well as an ensemble of top flight thesps including Academy Award nominees Alfre Woodward (The Family That Preys, Desperate Housewives, Beauty Shop) and Michael O’Keefe (Frozen River, Michael Clayton), multiple Emmy Award winner Charles S. Dutton (Without a Trace, The Practice), as well as Tim Blake Nelson (The Incredible Hulk, Syriana), Will Patton (Numb3rs, A Mighty Heart, Remember the Titans), and an additional contribution from rapper Xzibit (Gridiron Gang, Derailed).

Based on real events and set in a small Texas town in the midst of the 2000 Bush/Gore Presidential election, American Violet tells the astonishing story of Dee Roberts (Beharie), a 24 year old single mother of four who is wrongfully swept up and arrested in a drug raid along with 28 others. Despite the urgings of her mother (Woodard), and with her freedom and the custody of her children at stake, she chooses to fight the powerful district attorney (O’Keefe) and the unyielding criminal justice system he represents. Joined in an unlikely alliance with an ACLU attorney (Nelson) and former local narcotics officer (Patton), Dee risks everything in a battle that forever changes her life, and ultimately the Texas justice system.