Apichatpong-a-rama: Uncle Boonmee picked up for U.S. release by Strand

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives has been secured for U.S. distribution by Strand Releasing.

The release is set for spring 2011.

The deal was struck between Strand's Jon Gerrans and Michael Weber of Germany's the Match Factory, which is Boonmee's world sales agent.

"We're thrilled to be working on this film and am so happy to continue our long and on-going relationship with both a colleague and friend that we call Joe," Marcus Hu of Strand Releasing is quoted as saying in a statement on IndieWire.

The Match Factory has previously closed deals for Boonmee in around 20 territories, including the U.K. and Canada. Film Business Asia has a rundown of all those.

Strand has previously released three of Apichatpong's films in the U.S.: 2002's Blissfully Yours, 2004's Tropical Malady and 2006's Syndromes and a Century.

Apichatpong's first feature, 2000's Mysterious Object at Noon, was released in the U.S. by Plexifilm.

Los Angeles Times blogger Steven Zeitchick offers his view of how much Uncle Boonmee might earn in the U.S., where previous Cannes Palme d'Or winners have generally made around $4 million:

Strand released several of Weerasethakul’s previous movies, including Syndromes and a Century, to very minimal commercial effect. And although this film is more accessible than some of his earlier work, it has a less marketable conceit than some of the previous Palme winners. Strand, God bless it, may nonetheless be in a tough spot to push it; one could have imagined another distributor coming in and spending (marginally) more money.

One hope that I have for the Strand release of Boonmee is that the company will take care in how it presents the English subtitles. The Strand release of Syndromes is marred by the subtitles, which are hard-burned and presented in an extremely large, obtrusive type. Great for reading, but horrible for the watching the film.

Before next year's U.S. release, which film festival in North America will be the first to have Boonmee?

(Via Chaisiri)