Sideshow And Janus Films Take Sundance Ben Whishaw & Rebecca Hall Title ‘Peter Hujar’s Day’​on February 4, 2025 at 5:00 pm

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights to Ira Sachs’ new movie Peter Hujar’s Day which made its world premiere in the Sundance Film Festival Premieres section. A fall theatrical release is planned. Whishaw and Hall play photographer Peter Hujar and writer Linda Rosenkrantz, the pic a cinematic rendering of a conversation recorded […]Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights to Ira Sachs’ new movie Peter Hujar’s Day which made its world premiere in the Sundance Film Festival Premieres section. A fall theatrical release is planned. Whishaw and Hall play photographer Peter Hujar and writer Linda Rosenkrantz, the pic a cinematic rendering of a conversation recorded   

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights to Ira Sachs’ new movie Peter Hujar’s Day which made its world premiere in the Sundance Film Festival Premieres section. A fall theatrical release is planned.

Whishaw and Hall play photographer Peter Hujar and writer Linda Rosenkrantz, the pic a cinematic rendering of a conversation recorded between the duo in 1974. Their conversation that day focused on a single 24 hours in the life of Hujar, the uncompromising artist who was one of the most important figures in downtown New York’s legendary cultural scene of the 70s and 80s. Set entirely in Linda’s Manhattan apartment, the film freely and imaginatively recreates that long-ago afternoon and the wonderfully discursive exchange between these two singular individuals. As the photographer vividly describes interactions with leading cultural figures of the day, including Allen Ginsberg and Susan Sontag, as well as the challenges of living on limited financial resources in 70s New York, Peter Hujar’s Day transforms unexpectedly into a Bloomsday-like rumination on both an artist’s life and time itself.

The Sachs written and directed title will go on to play the Berlinale in Panorama. SBS will be handling international sales for the film.

Sachs said, “Sideshow and Janus Films represent a commitment to the kind of cinema that has meant the most to me, as audience and as filmmaker.” He continued, “To be a part of their future makes me feel both young and old, and full of hope both for this film and for the movies.”

Sideshow and Janus Films said in a statement: “Our team fell in love with Peter Hujar’s Day immediately. With its deceptively minimal premise, Ira Sachs has crafted a deeply profound, major work. This film illustrates the way we live in the past and present, pondering the mysterious, remarkable nature of time. Peter Hujar’s Day lingers with a magical, unprecedented sense of what storytelling on film can be. Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall deliver career performances. We could not be more excited to work with Ira and his Producer Jordan Drake to bring this unforgettable film into the world this Fall.”

WME Independent and Sideshow and Janus Films negotiated the deal. Pic was produced by Jordan Drake and Jonah Disend, and co-produced by Fred Burle and Aaron Craig. The film is a Complementary Colors, Blink Productions & Primo Content Presentation in association with We Are Films & Materia Cinema, and a Jordan Drake & One Two Films Production based on the book Peter Hujar’s Day by Linda Rosenkrantz.

EPs on Peter Hujar’s Day are Lucas Joaquin, Paul Weston, Corin Taylor, and Michelle Jaffe, Martin Kalina, Nicolas Pérez Veiga, and Alfredo Pérez Veiga, Franklin Laviola and Nicholas Laviola, Ellis Fox, Sol Bondy, Nadine Rothschild, and Inés Massa, and Whishaw, Hall and Adam Kersh also serving as executive producer. Alex Mitow serves as associate producer.