The Forge Acquires Cannes Prize-Winner ‘Black Dog,’ SXSW Audience Award Winner ‘Resynator’ For North American Distribution

EXCLUSIVE: The Forge has acquired North American rights to Guan Hu‘s drama Black Dog, along with worldwide rights to Alison Tavel‘s documentary Resynator, slating both acclaimed features for release in theaters in the fourth quarter of this year.

Winning the Un Certain Regard prize in its premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Black Dog takes place on the edge of the Gobi desert in Northwest China, watching as Lang (Eddie Peng) returns to his hometown after being released from jail. While working for the local dog patrol team to clear the town of stray dogs before the Beijing Olympics, he strikes up an unlikely connection with a black dog; two lonely outcasts finding purpose in each other.

Released theatrically last month in China, the film grossed over $2.4M in just two days at the box office.

The winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at SXSW 2024, Resynator‘s story is thrust into motion when inventor Don Tavel dies in a car crash in 1988, with his daughter Alison just 10 weeks old. Growing up surrounded by mythical stories of her “genius” father, Alison’s life is consequently absent from any true connection to him. Alison rescues Don’s synthesizer prototype from her grandmother’s attic and starts a curious resurrection project that turns into an insatiable globe-trotting quest. Aided by estranged family, lost friends, fellow inventors, and celebrated musicians including Grace Potter, Peter Gabriel, Fred Armisen, Gotye and Jon Anderson, Alison unlocks unsettling secrets and complex truths — through which a father-daughter relationship is finally born.

In addition to distributing the doc in North America, The Forge will be selling the film to territories worldwide.

Stated The Forge CEO Mark Sayre, “We’re focused on acquiring prestigious and award-winning films that tell universal stories to demonstrably enthusiastic audiences. Like the best music documentaries, RESYNATOR succeeds with both endemic audiences and viewers who have no background or affinity with music or technology at all. And BLACK DOG is a universal story about companionship and adversity in deceptively quotidian circumstances. We’re very excited to take these two films to the North American public.”

Added Tavel on her film’s acquisition, “Resynator is a portrait of my life and my father’s legacy, so I’m very grateful for Mark and The Forge in their support and understanding of what this project means to me. Our visions are aligned, and I’m thrilled to be working with such a smart, caring, and creative team.”

An international sales agency and distributor launched in 2019, The Forge also has Jordan Albertsen’s documentary BOOM: A Film About the Sonics lined up for a 20+ market U.S. theatrical release on September 13, with a special premiere planned for the week prior in Seattle, to be accompanied by live performances.

Sayre and Head of Acquisitions Decker Sadowski negotiated the deals on behalf of The Forge, with Playtime Group’s Managing Director Nicolas Brigaud-Robert on behalf of Black Dog, and Tavel and producer Jon Lullo on behalf of Resynator.