CATCH THE FAIR ONE: Tribeca Rescue Thriller Fave Lands At IFC Films For Next Year
Currently a part of this year’s 25th Fantasia International Film Festival line-up, director Josef Kubota Wladyka (“Narcos”, Dirty Hands) is proudly taking the mantle with his sophomore feature, Catch The Fair One, landing at IFC Films for a U.S. release in 2022.
Trades broke the news on Wednesday for the upcoming revenge thriller which since broke ground at this year’s Tribeca festivities, winniny the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and signaling what’s being described as a “raw breakout performance” from real-life professional boxer, Kali “K.O.” Reis in her screen debut; The first Indigenous fighter to win the International Boxing Association middleweight crown, Reis is also currently the WBA Super lightweight champion.
Written by Wladyka from a story developed with Reis, Catch The Fair One is billed as a “propulsive, edge-of-your-seat thriller”. Reis stars as Kaylee “K.O.” Uppashaw, an Indigenous former boxer who plugs herself into the dark and dangerous human trafficking world to find her sister when she learns of her disappearancd. Kaylee’s strength and determination are tested as she fights the real fight of her life—to find her sister and make her family whole again.
Rounding out the cast are Daniel Henshall, Tiffany Chu, Michael Drayer, Shelito Vincent, Lisa Emery, Kimberly Guerrero, and Kevin Dunn. Academy Award winner Mollye Asher (Nomadland) of The Population, produced the film alongside Kimberly Parker (The Last Black Man In San Francisco), and Wladyka, with Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) executive producing next to Mynette Louie, Derek Nguyen, Ari Handel, Cat Hobbs, James Hausler, Charles Stiefel, Todd Stiefel, Michael D’Alto, Chris Triana, Claude Amadeo, Shaun Sanghani, Sam Bisbee, and Arturo Castro.
“CATCH THE FAIR ONE plays like a beautifully-crafted thriller while shining much needed light on a sadly prevalent issue in North America – the trafficking of Indigenous women – and we were absolutely floored by Josef Kubota Wladyka’s handling of such emotional subject matter.” said Arianna Bocco, President of IFC Films. “We’re so glad we have the opportunity to usher in a new talent to the IFC family with Wladyka and the raw and brutally powerful performance from newcomer Kali Reis and to continue working with this amazing producing team.”
“All these years living in NYC and walking down 6th Avenue, I’ve dreamt of having a film up on the marquee at the IFC Center.” added Wladyka. “I am so excited to be working with IFC Films for the distribution of CATCH THE FAIR ONE. I’ve always admired the bold and unique films they’ve put out into the world, and we can’t wait for people to see the film.”
The deal was negotiated by IFC Films’ President Arianna Bocco and Director of Acquisitions Aijah Keith with Andrew Herwitz, President of The Film Sales Company, on behalf of the filmmakers.
Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.
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