The drama Indignation was one of the favorites of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, sparking the attention of Lionsgate to the tune of $2.5 acquisition. Former Focus Features head James Schamus, making his feature directorial debut, helmed the period drama starring rising actors Logan Lerman (Fury) and Sarah Gadon (Maps to the Stars) and today comes word that Lionsgate’s specialty division Roadside Attractions will release the film on July 29th.
Set in 1951, Indignation centers on a working class Jewish student named Marcus (Lerman). While attending a small college in Ohio, Marcus comes to blows with the sexual repression and anti-Semitic morays of the period. His struggles become more palpable as he develops a relationship with the troubled Olivia (Gadon) and the imposing dean of the university (played by August: Osage County writer Tracy Letts). Schamus adapted the screenplay from the Philip Roth novel.
Schamus, while in charge of Focus Features, shepherded critically acclaimed and Oscar-winning titles including Brokeback Mountain (2005), Lost in Translation (2003) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). He is also an accomplished screenwriter in his own right, having collaborated many times with Oscar-winning filmmaker Ang Lee on a diverse range of films that include The Wedding Banquet (1993), The Ice Storm (1997), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Lust, Caution (2007).
Roadside Attractions appears to be following a similar pattern on which they released past indie successes like Mr. Holmes and The Most Wanted Man. The film will bow in limited release in late July with expansion likely throughout the typically sleepy month of August. The film opens on July 29th.
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