Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to Last Night in Rozzie, a Boston set drama starring Neil Brown Jr, Nicky Whelan, Jeremy Sisto and Kevin Chapman. Sean Gannet directed the pic, which will now get a day and date release beginning September 17.
Written by Ryan McDonough, the plot centres on New York lawyer Ronnie Russo (Brown) who becomes entangled in a complicated web of conflicting loyalties when summoned to his Boston hometown by a dying childhood friend (Sisto). Sent on a mission to fulfil his friend’s final wish – a reunion with his estranged son – Russo is forced to confront his past and a secret childhood trauma he’s kept hidden for more than 25 years.
Joseph Stephans, McDonough, Gannet, Kris Meyer, and Andrew Cahill are producers, and Tim O’Keeffe and Jennifer and Gregory Ezring executive produced. The deal was negotiated by Gravitas’ Sales & Acquisitions Manager David Sullivan and Circus Road Films’ Glen Reynolds.
“Gannet’s and McDonough’s award-winning film is a highly empathetic, redemptive journey that uses its complex characters to explore issues of loyalty, forgiveness, and more. All while being grounded in a true sense of place that makes you feel like you are ready to put on a Red Sox hat,” Sullivan said. “We cannot wait to get this out into the world.”
Gravitas Ventures has also acquired North American digital rights to Panayioti Yannitsos’ Florian’s Knights, a documentary feature that will be released in theatres on September 10 via Crowbar Pictures timed to the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. More than 15 theatrical markets are set for the pic, which Gravitas will release on digital in November.
The documentary chronicles firefighters in both the US and Canada who form a controversial motorcycle club to cope with the crippling effects of PTSD, and who speak truth against the stigma of first-responder mental health and outlaw biker culture.
“For over a century, firefighters in North America have grappled with the harsh reality of post-traumatic stress. In pursuit of making this movie, we were faced with a code of silence engrained in fire departments for generations. I knew that this moratorium on mental health was costing men and women their lives, whether through substance abuse, depression, or suicide and I felt a responsibility to shine a light on this very human struggle and bring it to audiences,” Yannitsos said.
Shawn Galvao is executive producer. Yannitsos negotiated the rights deal with Gravitas’ Megan Huggins.