{"id":463042,"date":"2026-02-06T21:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/463042\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T21:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:20:08","slug":"neon-acquires-worldwide-rights-to-clarissa-starring-david-oyelowo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/463042\/","title":{"rendered":"Neon Acquires Worldwide Rights to ‘Clarissa’ Starring David Oyelowo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNeon<\/a> has acquired worldwide rights to twin filmmakers\u2019 Arie and Chuko Esiri\u2019s \u201cClarissa<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShot on 35mm film in Lagos and Delta State, Nigeria, the film stars Sophie Okonedo (\u201cHotel Rwanda\u201d), David Oyelowo (\u201cSelma\u201d), India Amarteifio (\u201cQueen Charlotte\u201d), Ayo Edebiri (\u201cThe Bear\u201d) and Toheeb Jimoh (\u201cTed Lasso\u201d, \u201cIndustry\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tNeon will release the film theatrically in the United States, and Neon International will represent the film for foreign sales.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cClarissa\u201d is a modern reimagining of Virginia Woolf\u2019s novel \u201cMrs. Dalloway,\u201d in which society woman Clarissa (Okonedo) prepares to host a party at her home in Lagos, Nigeria, where she will unexpectedly encounter once-intimate friends from her youth. As the group reflects on their shared past over the course of a single night, memories of their intricate relationships, passionate love, hidden desires and lost aspirations give rise to bittersweet reckoning.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe screenplay was written by Chuko Esiri, and the film is jointly directed and produced by Arie and Chuko alongside producers Theresa Park for Per Capita Productions and Nicholas Weinstock for Invention Studios. Nina Gold and Thomas Bassett are co-producers, and executive producers include Sophie Okonedo, Dolly Omodolapo Kola-Balogun, Osahon Okunbo and Jason Reif.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Esiri\u2019s debut feature \u201cEyimofe (This Is My Desire\u201d) \u2014 which they produced, wrote and directed \u2014 went on to win five African Movie Academy Awards. The film was released by Janus Films and is now part of the Criterion Collection.<\/p>\n

\n\tProduction financing for filming in Nigeria was provided entirely by Africa-based Afreximbank\u2019s CANEX Creations Inc. (CANEX).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe acquisition and distribution deal was negotiated by Neon\u2019s director of acquisitions, development & production Kate Gondwe and UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers.<\/p>\n

\n\tNeon\u2019s slate of upcoming releases include Oliver Laxe\u2019s \u201cSirat,\u201d Matt Johnson\u2019s \u201cNirvanna the Band the Show the Movie\u201d and Baz Luhrmann\u2019s \u201cEPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neon has acquired worldwide rights to twin filmmakers\u2019 Arie and Chuko Esiri\u2019s \u201cClarissa.\u201d Shot on 35mm film in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,237502,134,344,17022],"class_list":{"0":"post-463042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-clarissa","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-neon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}