Advertisement

Sundance: Documentary ‘Users’ Acquired by Film Constellation (EXCLUSIVE)

Film Constellation, the London-based production, finance and sales outfit, has acquired Natalia Almada’s timely documentary “Users,” which will have its world premiere at Sundance.

“Users” is set to unspool as part of Sundance’s U.S. documentary competition section on Jan. 31. Film Constellation is representing the film in international markets, while Endeavor Content is repping North American rights.

More from Variety

The cinematic documentary explores our relationship to technology and its impact on our planet, as well as ways in which machines we use every day may end up changing us forever. Both intimate in scope and epic in scale, “Users” also features a score performed by the Kronos Quartet.

Almada is an award-winning director whose credits include “The General” which won the best director prize at Sundance in 2009 and “The Night Watchman,” which played as part of Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight in 2011. “Users” marks Almada’s fifth feature.

“As illuminating as it is mesmerizing, ‘Users’ is a cinematic revelation where form and narrative come together in perfect harmony to capture and redefine humanity in the digital age,” said Fabien Westerhoff, CEO of Film Constellation.

Almada highlighted the timeliness of her film and said “Users” will “feel particularly personal to all of us … in this moment in time.”

“We have radically changed our relationship to technology. Whether to zoom with grandma or conduct business, we’ve all become dependent not only on the technology in our homes but on the invisible infrastructure that sustains it,” said the filmmaker. “And yet, we’re still longing to embrace one another or to sit in a crowded cinema.”

Almada said her film “looks at technology as a testament to our power to create, and also considers its long term consequences on our environment and way of being.”

“Users” is produced by Elizabeth Lodge Stepp (“Knight of Cups”) and Josh Penn (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”). The film is a production of The Department of Motion Pictures and Altamura Films in association with XTR, Atlas Industries, JustFilms/Ford Foundation, No Ficción and Simplemente/FCPWORKS. The documentary was also backed by IDA, Field of Vision, Chicken and Egg, Dolby, Sundance Institute and Sandbox Films.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.