Film Movement Acquires Olivia Peace’s ‘Tahara’ With ‘Shiva Baby’ Star Rachel Sennott (EXCLUSIVE)

Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Olivia Peace’s “Tahara,” a coming-of-age starring Rachel Sennott (“Shiva Baby“) which played at Slamdance and TIFF Next Wave.

The film will be released theatrically in North America in 2022, followed by a roll out on home video and digital services. “Tahara” follows Carrie Lowstein (DeFreece) and Hannah Rosen (Sennott) who are best friends. When their former Hebrew school classmate, Samantha Goldstein, commits suicide, the two girls go to her funeral as well as the “Teen Talk-back” session designed to be an opportunity for them to understand grief through their faith. But, after an innocent kissing exercise turns Carrie’s world inside out, the pair finds themselves distracted by teenage complications.

On top of playing at Slamdance and TIFF Next Wave, the film won the Grand Jury Special Mention at Outfest as well as the best feature debut award by a Black LGBTQ+ Filmmaker at NewFest.

“Tahara truly serves as a brilliantly crafted calling card to the industry for both director Olivia Peace and screenwriter Jess Zeidman,” says Michael Rosenberg, Film Movement president.

“Maybe the only depiction of a black Jewish LGBTQ protagonist on film, it also addresses the complex social rules of teenage life like few films before it,” Rosenberg adds.

Peace said “’Tahara’ is designed to glitch genre and blends so many different things together: live action and animation, comedy and drama, and that uniquely unsettling feeling that happens when you just might have a crush on your best friend, but don’t know if they like you back yet.”

Film Movement’s current slate also includes Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” the Silver Bear-winner at the most recent Berlinale; “Chess Story,” a new adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s novel of the same name, directed by Philipp Stölzl; “Moon, 66 Questions,” Jacqueline Lentzou’s debut feature film; “Fear,” Ivaylo Hristov’s debut which won the Grand Prize at Tallinn; the Venice Days award-winning Palestinian drama “200 Meters;” and “The Whaler Boy” which won the director award at Venice Days last year.