First Look At Colm Feore Western ‘Six Days To Die’; Acquisitions By Bungalow, Freestyle, Gravitas & Deskpop; ‘Arctic Void’ Trailer; More – Film Briefs:

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has your first look at Six Days to Die, the second film in a sci-fi western trilogy series by Matt Campagna, which he wrote, directed, shot and edited.

The film brought to life through virtual environments, comprised of elaborate 360-degree digital matte paintings, centers on a desperate gambler wrongfully accused of murder who flees through a post-apocalyptic frontier, with a vengeful Marshal doggedly hunting him down, on a bloody quest to bring order to the chaos.

The Umbrella Academy’s Colm Feore stars alongside Darryl Hinds, Melissa D’Agostino, Ari Millen and Kyra Harper. Breann Smordin and Elizabeth Frase produced the pic, which is eyeing a festival premiere next year, and is being sold worldwide by Forward Motion Entertainment. The third film in the trilogy series, Six Guns For Hire, is currently in post-production.

***

EXCLUSIVE: Bungalow Media has acquired worldwide rights to Capital Arts Entertainment and Scatena & Rosner Film’s holiday film, Cupid for Christmas, which will become available for streaming exclusively on Hulu on November 20.

The film directed by Blayne Weaver centers on Ruby (Melanie Stone), protege to Cupid, the god of love (Richard Kind), as she struggles to prove she’s deserving of the bow & arrow after Cupid’s retirement. After one too many mishaps, she’s challenged to find love for Charlie (Ryan Carnes), the most romantically hopeless person on Earth, before midnight on Christmas Eve. If she succeeds, she will take over as Cupid permanently; if she fails, she loses her wings forever.

Patricia Harrington wrote the pic, which also stars Natasha Behnam, Siri Miller and Cocoa Brown. Mike Elliott, Joseph P. Genier, Rob Kerchner and Paul DiFranco produced, with Gato Scatena, Jordan Rosner and Zach Stampone executive producing.

Bungalow Media CEO Phil Goldfine negotiated the Cupid for Christmas acquisition deal with Rosner and Scatena on behalf of the filmmakers.

***

EXCLUSIVE: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American rights to Andrew Ford’s horror film, The Reenactment. The digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios will release the film across internet, cable and satellite platforms on December 7.

The Reenactment tells the story of a film crew working on a true crime show in the mid-1990s who find themselves imperiled when they start to film at an abandoned house that may not be abandoned after all. Ford wrote the script for the film, shot in Nashville, TN, with Eli Osman. It’s ensemble cast includes Osman, Megan Duffy, James Storm, Kaitlyn Bausch, Stephen Green, Nick Fair, Madison Boyd, Corey Knox, Nick Huntsman and Tony Todd of Candyman fame. Ford and Osman produced with Steve Longi, Whitney Wolanin and Jack Sheahan.

Freestyle Digital Media negotiated the acquisition deal directly with Ford (Wampus Cat Productions, LLC), Longi (Longitude Entertainment), and producing duo Wolanin and Sheahan (TopNotch Entertainment Corp.).

***

EXCLUSIVE: Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to Susan Morgan Cooper’s true crime documentary, Fatal Distraction, and to Chad Peter’s romantic comedy, Road to Perth. The indie distributor will release the former title on VOD on December 7, bringing the latter to VOD on January 18.

Fatal Distraction tells the untold story of the Georgia murder trial of Justin Ross Harris, following the hot car death of his son in 2014. Hours after 22-month-old Cooper Harris’ tragic death, the Cobb County Police Department lies under oath to obtain search warrants for Harris’ home. Finding evidence of an extramarital sex life on his cell phone, the prosecution concocts a “double life” murder motive. When the press exaggerates and manipulates this information to create fast-selling, salacious stories, the public judges Harris guilty before a single day in court.

Cooper produced the documentary inspired by Gene Weingarten’s Pulitzer Prize-winning article of the same name with Lara Thomas Ducey.

Shot on location with no script and a crew of one, Road to Perth is an intimate tale of two people—an American tourist and an Australian woman—who meet each other at a time of need. All while taking a road trip along the gorgeous backroads of southern Australia. Tommy O’Brien, Hannah Lehmann, and Rachel Scott star.

Gravitas Ventures Acquisitions Coordinator Megan Huggins negotiated the Fatal Distraction acquisition deal with Morgan Cooper Productions, negotiating the Road to Perth deal directly with the filmmakers.

Check out the Fatal Distraction trailer below.

***

EXCLUSIVE: The recently-launched genre label Deskpop Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Harley Wallen’s film Ash and Bone, starring Jamie Bernadette, with plans to release it in theaters and on VOD at a date which has not yet been disclosed.

In the horror-thriller, a troubled teenager is taken to the peace and quiet of the countryside by her father and stepmother in an effort to calm down her wild streak. But after she crosses the infamous McKinley family, it becomes clear that sometimes danger lies hidden in the weeds, ready to strike at any moment.

The film scripted by Bret Miller also stars Mel Novak, Angelina Danielle Cama, Kaiti Wallen, Jimmy Doom, Erika Hoveland, Mason Heidger and Harley Wallen. Annette Cama produced for Cama Productions, with Harley & Kaiti Wallen for Painted Creek Productions, Joe Williamson of The Williamson Management Company and Auburn Moon’s Nancy Oeswein.

Deskpop Entertainment negotiated the acquisition with sales agent Cyfuno Ventures.

***

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has your first look at Level 33 Entertainment‘s survival thriller Arctic Void (formerly titled Dissonance), which is the first narrative feature from veteran documentary director Darren Mann (This Cold Life, State of Control). The LA-based company is handling global sales and distribution for the film and is planning to release it in theaters and on VOD early next year.

Arctic Void sees power mysteriously fail on an eco-tourism vessel in the Arctic, with almost everyone vanishing from it, leaving fear to become the master for the three who remain. Forced ashore, the men deteriorate in body and mind until a dark truth emerges that compels them to ally or perish.

Michael Weaver, Tim Griffin, Justin Huen and Rune Temte star in the film, which was shot by 16 people in 16 days on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, only 600 miles from the North Pole. Weaver also penned the script and produced with Grant Myers for Two Doors Down, with Jen Roskind and Don Julien exec producing.

Check out the new poster for Arctic Void above. Its trailer can be found below.

***

The Hawai’i International Film Festival has announced the launch of production on its first feature project, Makawalu, which will bring kanaka maoli (Native Hawaiian) directors Kekama Amona, Justyn Ah Chong, Ty Sanga, Aina Paikai, Katherine Wong, Taylour Chang, Erin Lau and Ciara Lacy together to make one film.

Makawalu, in modern Hawaiian terminology, references “different perspectives of a situation.” The feature will tell eight connected stories exploring the impact of tourism on native identity from an Indigenous Hawaiian perspective. The stories will be told in real-time, with each captured as a single 10-minute shot. The Hawaiian climate and a luau taking place on the 4th of July will also feature in each.

The filmmakers involved will develop the project through a writers’ retreat at the Halekulani Hotel from November 15-19. It’s expected to be completed next year. Sarah Kim will lead the producing team, the intent being to set a strategic festival release for the film, and to present it for major distribution in early 2023.

In addition to a film, Makawalu will also be an ongoing, iterative program put on by HIFF, in order to support and nurture Native Hawaiian filmmakers. Brown Sugar Apple Grunt Productions Ltd founders Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton will run the five-day retreat alongside HIFF, and executive produce the film. Warkia and McNaughton will be joined as mentors by actor-producer Daniel Dae Kim, whose production company, 3AD Media, is an underwriter of the retreat.

***

Emmy nominee Kate Mulgrew (Orange Is the New Black) and Golden Globe nominee Molly Ringwald (Riverdale, The Breakfast Club) have signed on to star in Columbarium, a new short film from Fair Oaks Entertainment and It Doesn’t Suck Productions.

The film from directors Roger Mancusi and Katie Schiller follows two brothers as they look to fulfill their grandmother’s dying wish, stealing her dead dog’s ashes from her ex-husband (their grandfather) on his 80th birthday. It’s based on Nicholas Mancusi’s short story of the same name, which was inspired by his real-life experiences, along with those of his brother Roger Mancusi and their grandmother, nine-time Daytime Emmy Award-winning soap opera writer, Claire Labine. (While serving as the head writer of programs including General Hospital, One Life to Live and Guiding Light, Labine also co-created the soap opera Ryan’s Hope, which starred Mulgrew.)

Stephen Bogardus, Alex Breaux and Dan Bittner round out the cast of the short, produced by The Mancusi Brothers, Schiller and Kieran Altmann. Mulgrew is exec producing with Bronwyn Cornelius and Bess Donoghue. Mulgrew is represented by Innovative Artists, Jonathan Arun Group in the UK and New York’s Viking Entertainment; Ringwald by Untitled Entertainment, New York’s Barking Dog Entertainment and Kraditor & Haber; Bogardus by TalentWorks; Breaux by Buchwald and MJ Management; Bittner by Nicolosi & Co. (NY).

View this article at Deadline.