With the second edition of AFI Dallas in full swing, the festival's first acquisition deal was announced. Cinema Libre Studios has picked up worldwide rights to Glenn Gers' Disfigured, a narrative feature that had two screenings at the festival this past weekend. The film stars Deidra Edwards and Staci Lawrence as two women dealing with "body issues and self-acceptance," according to the festival program notes. The film initially focuses on sales clerk Lydia (Edwards, making her screen debut), a plus-sized woman who "struggles with complex feelings about her body and its place in the world," in the words of the announcement. Meanwhile, real estate agent Darcy (Lawrence, in her first feature lead), a recovering anorexic, "is struggling with the same issues but from a very different perspective." The two women meet and find they have much more in common than they might have anticipated.
"The issues of appearance, control, isolation and our complicated relationships to our own bodies seem universal to me, " said writer/director Gers, who previously scripted Mad Money and Fracture. "I wanted to spark a dialogue about weight issues. With Cinema Libre, we hope to work with groups that support awareness of size diversity issues and would like to set up special screenings of the film across the country this summer." Disfigured screens at AFI Dallas once more on Tuesday, April 1. More information is available at the film's web site, including a trailer and photo gallery, and also at an official-looking blog.
1. I saw the filmmakers here in Dallas and they seemed super excited about this news!
Posted at 1:14PM on Apr 2nd 2008 by Lane