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Cannes’ Golden Eye Winner ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing’ Acquired by Cinema Guild (EXCLUSIVE)

Cinema Guild has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Payal Kapadia’s “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” which won the Golden Eye award for best documentary at Cannes.

Kapadia’s debut film, “A Night of Knowing Nothing” world premiered at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight. It also won the Amplify Voices Award at Toronto, as well as the Emerging Cinematic Vision Award at Camden fest; and also played at the New York Film Festival.

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The documentary is set in contemporary India, at the local film and television institute, where a student writes love letters to her estranged lover. The doc also delivers a snapshot of the drastic changes taking place within the school and across the country as young people take the streets to protest against discrimination.

Represented in international markets by Square Eyes, “A Night of Knowing Nothing” mixes reality with fiction and includes archival footage of student protests to draw a parallel between the personal and the political.

“’A Night of Knowing Nothing’ is a rare film of quiet power and heralds the arrival of a fresh voice on the world cinema stage,” said Cinema Guild president Peter Kelly, who negotiated the deal with Wouter Jansen of Square Eyes. “We can’t wait to share Payal Kapadia’s sensitive and incendiary work with audiences across the U.S.”

Jansen said the company has “always admired the bold cinematic works in the catalogue of Cinema Guild, so we are very proud to now be part of it with ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing.’”

Cinema Guild’s slate of upcoming releases includes Hong Sangsoo’s “Introduction” and “In Front of Your Face,” Joshua Bonnetta’s “The Two Sights” and Ramon and Silvan Zürcher’s “The Girl and the Spider.” Recent releases include Rodrigo Reyes’ “499,” Matías Piñeiro’s “Isabella” and Kazik Radwanski’s “Anne at 13,000 ft.”

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