EXCLUSIVE: Fledgeling French distributor Contre-Jour has acquired European rights to Sheridan O’Donnell Little Brother in one of the first significant deals for the new sales division of L.A.-based company Apollo Management International (AMI).

Daniel Diemer plays a man tasked with picking up his troubled older brother (Philip Ettinger) from hospital in Albuquerque after a suicide attempt and driving him to the family home some 1,200 miles away in Seattle.

Along the way the estranged siblings are forced to confront their past and reconcile their fractured relationship.

J.K Simmons plays their father – a complex man desperately worried about his oldest son – who tries to direct the mission from afar.

Also featuring Polly Draper in the cast, Little Brother played a raft of U.S. festivals, winning the Audience Award at the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival and was released in the U.S. by Gravitas Ventures last September.

The film won praise for its sensitive and engaging handling of the material as well as for the performances of Diemer, Ettinger and Simmons, and also generated strong world of mouth.

“Little Brother, with its themes of empathy, mental health, and family, is a story that crosses borders and profoundly impacts everyone who experiences it.  We’re very excited to partner with Contre-Jour to bring this film to European audiences,” said O’Donnell.

French distribution company Contre-Jour was launched earlier this year by Yves Khachan, Lilou Parente and Aurélien Dupard with the ambition of finding a place in cinemas for art-house gems they believe can command a wider audience.

It’s releases to date include Iranian-German director Farahnaz Sharifi’s My Stolen Planet, Thai filmmaker Sorayos Prapapan’s Arnold Is A Model Student as well as a re-release of the 1970s classic The Ear by Karel Kachyna.

The company is aiming to release the film on 200 to 300 screens in key European territories including including France, Belgium, Germany, and Spain.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Contre-Jour. Their reputation for carefully curated releases makes them the perfect home for Little Brother in Europe. This theatrical rollout gives the film the platform it deserves,” said Greg Bekkers of Two Lands Films and Apollo Management International, who brokered the deal, added:

Bekkers launched a sales division within the framework of his L.A.-based management company AMI earlier this year in help U.S. indie films find a wider releases inside and outside of the U.S.

Alongside Little Brother, its inaugural slate also featured Miguel Duran’s Adventure Tom, Vivian Kerr’s Scrap and Chris Messineo’s The Strange Dark.