Magnolia Acquires Venice Fest Winner ‘A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence’

Magnolia Pictures has picked up U.S. distribution rights to the Swedish comedy A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence.  The film, written and directed by Roy Andersson, recently won the top prize – the Golden Lion – at the 2014 Venice Film Festival.  Magnolia is planning to roll the film out in the United States sometime in 2015.  Academy Award-nominated directors Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) and Alejandro González Innaritu (Babel) are both lending their names in presenting the title.  Ironically, one of the films A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence bested at Venice for the top prize was Innaritu’s Birdman.

The film is the third feature in Andersson’s “Living” trilogy, following Songs From the Second Floor – which won the Jury Prize at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival – and You, the Living, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.  A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is a comedy that mixes the deadpan with the absurd, following the woeful misadventures of two traveling salesman as they head to a shop called “Party.” The film focuses on the comedic vignettes that occur on their way there.  Andersson mainstays Holger Andersson and Nils Westblom star.

“We were swept away by the humor, beauty and sheer originality of this film,” Magnolia Pictures president Eamonn Bowles shared. “For admirers of Roy Andersson, a new film from him is a true cinematic gift. For people that haven’t experienced his films before, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is a terrific place to start.”