“Marwencol,” which won the top documentary prize at the South by Southwest Film Festival in February, has been acquired for distribution by the Cinema Guild, and will be released theatrically in the fall.
The Cinema Guild, a New York-based company that handles theatrical and video distribution and specializes in documentary, foreign and independent film, announced the acquisition on Wednesday.
The film, from first-time director Jeff Malmberg, details the elaborate fantasy world created by Mark Hogancamp, a New Yorker who was brutally beaten outside a bar 10 years ago. Suffering from brain damage and unable to afford traditional therapy, Hogancamp constructed an elaborate, 1/6 scale, World War II-era town in his back yard; he named the town Marwencol, and populated it with Barbie dolls, each with its own detailed history and storyline.