'Bunny' hops to Palm
Arthouse label to distrib Sundance winner
An examination of the life, work and mysterious death of collage artist and Warhol contemporary Ray Johnson, "Bunny" was named one of the 10 best documentaries of 2002 in the Village Voice annual critics' poll. It is also nominated for a 2003 Independent Spirit Award in the docu category.
Directed by John Walter and produced by Andrew Moore, the film features appearances from Johnson's friends and associates, including art-world luminaries Christo, Chuck Close, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist. Mr. Mudd, the production shingle headed by Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich and Russell Smith, served as exec producer.
" 'How to Draw a Bunny' is one of the most entertaining and well-constructed documentaries that we've seen on an artist in quite some time," said David Koh, Palm's head of acquisitions and production. "We're thrilled to be entrusted with the release and look forward to our collaboration with filmmakers John Walter and Andrew Moore and everyone at Mr. Mudd."
"Bunny" will be the second project released under Palm's recently acquired Arthouse Films banner following cult multimedia artist Matthew Barney's "The Cremaster Cycle."
Other recent pickups for Chris Blackwell's audio/visual entertainment company Palm Pictures include Dagur Kari's "Noi Albinoi" and Baltasar Kormakur's "The Sea," both from Iceland; Claude Berri's French B.O. smash "The Housekeeper"; Olivier Assayas' corporate cyberthriller "demonlover"; and the Pang Brothers' Hong Kong supernatural thriller "The Eye."
"Bunny" acquisition was negotiated by Koh and Arthouse general manager Jose Martinez with Halfon for Mr. Mudd.
