Blue is the Warmest Color, the highly charged lesbian film making an explosion at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, has (according to Variety), been picked up for U.S. distribution by Sundance Selects.

Blue is the Warmest Color is directed and co-written by Abdellatif Kechiche, a French-Tunisian auteur filmmaker whose previous film, The Secret Of Grain, was made waves across the European festival circuit in 2007 and 2008, including numerous wins at Venice. Blue is the Warmest Color  is an adaptation of a graphic novel by Julie Maroh, who, along with Grain co-writer Ghalia Lacroix, collaborated with Kechiche on the script.

The film stars Lea Seydoux (“Inglorious Basterds”) and newcomer Adele Exarchopoulos in what Jordan Mintzer of the Hollywood Reporter calls, “clearly a breakout performance.” The three hour film takes the time to lay out all the riveting nuances in the inception of a gay love affair, from the trembling first touch, to the pressure of hiding the truth from non-supportive family and friends, to the cooling of passion and the devastation of disillusionment.

The explicit  and intense sex scenes exude a true sense of communion, as opposed to the typical mainstream movie approved calisthenics. Stephen Garrett of the ‘New York Observer’ calls the film,  “a major work of sexual awakening, nothing less than a triumph”.

The theatrical release date is October 9, in France. We’ll give a heads up when it will be released in the U.S.