Magnolia Pictures has acquired the worldwide rights, excluding Canada, to Lance Oppenheim’s documentary feature debut “Some Kind of Heaven.”
The film, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, was produced by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa and Los Angeles Media Fund, which also financed the film.
“Some Kind of Heaven” profiles The Villages, the nation’s largest retirement community, located in Central Florida. The Villages is often called the “Disneyland for Retirees,” and the film follows a married couple, a widow and a bachelor who search for Eden.
Magnolia is planning an early 2021 release.
“‘Some Kind of Heaven’ is a remarkable achievement from a striking new voice in film,” Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles said. “Lance Oppenheim demonstrates an incredible command of his craft and more importantly, a clear-eyed vision of the world around him. It also makes me want to learn pickleball.”
Oppenheim added, “From ‘Queen of Versailles’ to ‘Tangerine,’ I grew up having my mind blown time and time again by so many of Magnolia’s movies and by their sharp curatorial sensibility. I’m so thrilled to be working with them and couldn’t have asked for a better home to launch this film.”
The film was produced by Aronofsky, Jeffrey Soros, Simon Horsman, Kathleen Lingo, Melissa Oppenheim Lano, Pacho Velez, Oppenheim, and co-produced by Christian Vazquez. Executive producers are Ari Handel, Brendan Naylor, Morgan Earnest, Andrew Blau, Jake Carter, Trevor Groth, Tristen Tuckfield, Lindsay Crouse, and Jeff Orlowski.
The deal was negotiated by Magnolia EVP Dori Begley and SVP of Acquisitions John Von Thaden, and by 30WEST, UTA Independent Film Group, and Submarine Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers.