Magnolia Pictures announced on Wednesday that it has acquired the North American distribution rights to Participant’s documentary “A Compassionate Spy” and will release it later this year.
Directed by two-time Oscar nominee Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”), “A Compassionate Spy” tells the story of Ted Hall, who at the age of 18 was the youngest physicist to work on the Manhattan Project with Robert Oppenheimer. Fearful that an American monopoly on something as devastating as a nuclear bomb could lead to catastrophe, Hall shared key secrets on the bomb’s development to Soviet spies, significantly shaping the course of the Cold War in the decades to come.
“A Compassionate Spy” is also a love story, retelling Hall’s lifelong relationship with his wife Joan, with whom he raised a family while under the shadow of FBI surveillance. The documentary tells Hall’s story through Joan’s perspective, as she kept many of his secrets until after his death in 1999.
“I am thrilled to work once again with Magnolia,” James said in a statement. “For a long time, they’ve been one of the classiest distributors of documentaries, and they’re the best possible home for ‘A Compassionate Spy.’”
“Steve James has delivered another emotional, yet clear-eyed, look at a complex subject,” Magnolia Pictures president Eamonn Bowles said. “’A Compassionate Spy’ succeeds in telling a larger story in individual human terms.”
“Ted Hall’s legacy is timely and nuanced, and Steve James’ incredible talent makes for a really thrilling telling of a vital story,” Participant CEO David Linde added. “’A Compassionate Spy’ is a reminder of how the past is always present and how the specter of nuclear war lingers in our collective consciousness. Magnolia is a great partner and we are looking forward to working with them again to bring it to audiences.”
The documentary premiered at the Venice Film Festival last fall and also screened at Telluride. Mitten Media and Kartemquin Films produced the film with James, Mark Mitten and Dave Lindorff as producers. Executive producers are Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Tim Horsburgh and Gordon Quinn.
The deal was negotiated by Magnolia EVP Dori Begley and SVP of Acquisitions John Von Thaden; Participant’s Liesl Copland, EVP Content Strategy & Sales, Adam Macy, Senior Counsel, Business & Legal Affairs, and Rob Williams, SVP, Content Strategy & Sales; with Jason Ishikawa at Cinetic on behalf of the filmmakers.
