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Producers Program Alums Head to the Tribeca Film Festival
XYZ Films partners Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer and Aram Tertzakian will show two films during the fest's Midnight screenings
"Frankenstein's Army" and "Raze," two films from the Los Angeles-based production and sales company XYZ Films, have been selected to screen at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
XYZ Films, formed by partners Nate Bolotin MFA ’07, Nick Spicer MFA ’06, and Aram Tertzakian MFA ’07, is best known for heralding Gareth Evan’s breakout hit "The Raid: Redemption" for Sony Pictures Classics. Budgeted for $1 million, the film grossed nearly $15 million, with a record-breaking $4.2 million in Indonesia. XYZ Films executive produced and handled worldwide sales of the film and is now working on a sequel, with North American rights presold to Sony.
With two films recently selected by the Tribeca Film Festival for its Midnight screenings, XYZ continues its momentum to impress international audiences. XYZ Films produced the horror pic "Frankenstein's Army," directed by Dutch filmmaker Richard Raaphorst, making this his feature film directorial debut. The story is set at the end of World War II about Russian soldiers who stumble across a secret Nazi lab, which has been experimenting with the journal of Dr. Viktor Frankenstein. In addition, XYZ Films is the sales agent for the gritty horror, action film "Raze," starring Quentin Tarantino’s favorite stuntwoman, Zoe Bell ("Kill Bill," "Grindhouse"). "Raze" follows two abducted women forced to do battle with other innocent women for the pleasure and amusement of unseen spectators.
If the genre-fan credentials of these projects seem impeccable, that’s in large part because the XYZ Films partners are fanboys themselves. “They’re the films we like best,” Tertzakian has said, “(and) they’re the films that perform best internationally. Genre films are a more digestible way to get financiers onboard with new talent."
XYZ Films’ upcoming credits include Gareth Evens’ “The Raid 2,” Calvin Lee Reeder’s "The Rambler," starring Dermot Mulroney and Lindsay Pulsipher, in addition to the supernatural thriller "Aguas Rojas," which Participant Media is financing.
XYZ Films partners were able to tap into the Internet’s fan grapevine in an inventive way, acquiring the global action and horror movie news site Twitchfilm.com, whose 40 worldwide correspondents keep them up to date and function as an army of savvy talent scouts. "The Raid's" Gareth Evans first came to their attention as a Twitchfilm discovery.
XYZ has also moved strongly into distribution, forming an international sales division to handle third party projects, like the American-made indie "Raze," that are deemed "consistent with the XYZ brand," hip genre films with broad commercial appeal.
From top: XYZ Films' "Frankenstein's Army," "Raze"
Posted: March 8, 2013
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