The day has come for “Four Lions” director Christopher Morris, as IFC Films has acquired the U.S. rights to his latest film “The Day Shall Come,” the indie distributor announced Tuesday.
Morris’s first film since “Four Lions” nine years ago stars Danielle Brooks, Anna Kendrick, Denis O’Hare, Jim Gaffigan and newcomer Marchánt Davis, and IFC will release “The Day Shall Come” theatrically and on demand on Sept. 27.
“The Day Shall Come” premiered at this year’s SXSW and is a satire “based on a hundred true stories.” TheWrap’s critic Monica Castillo said in her review out of SXSW that in the film, “the stories of many people in the United States are condensed into one bitterly funny but dark comedy about the shortcomings of our justice system.”
The film follows Moses Al Shabaz (Davis), the “Sultan” of The Star of Six Farm on a mission he runs in the Miami projects with his wife, Venus (Danielle Brooks). He bans guns from his community, fights crime and dreams of overthrowing the government. However, The Farm is going under, and Moses must make some quick cash to save his family from eviction. A stranger offers him $50,000 if he accepts illegal guns for his “revolution.”
To hustle the money, Moses betrays his own rules and takes the weapons. He has no idea this sponsor works for the FBI and is fueling his madcap dreams in order to turn him into a criminal. In an escalating game of cat and mouse where the mouse has no idea the cat exists, “The Day Shall Come” is a wildly absurd yet realistic farce and a devastating plea for justice.
Morris wrote the comedy with Jesse Armstrong. It’s produced by See-Saw Films’ Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, Archer Gray’s Anne Carey, Chris Morris and Derrin Schlesinger. Made with support from Film4, Riverstone Pictures and the BFI (awarding funds from the National Lottery), “The Day Shall Come” is in association with FilmNation Entertainment and Cross City Films, of a See-Saw Films and Perp & Co production, produced in association with Archer Gray.
The deal for the film was negotiated by Arianna Bocco with FilmNation on behalf of the filmmakers.