‘Ahed’s Knee’: Kino Lorber Takes North American Rights To Cannes Jury Prize Winner

Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to Ahed’s Knee, with plans to release the Cannes Jury Prize winner in theaters early next year.

The fifth feature film from Israeli director Nadav Lapid (The Kindergarten Teacher, Synonyms) will then get a VOD release on Kino Now, also debuting on all other major digital platforms and home video.

Ahed’s Knee (Ha’Berech) tells the story of Y (Avshalom Pollak), a celebrated Israeli filmmaker who arrives in a remote desert village to present one of his films at a local library.

Struggling to cope with the recent news of his mother’s fatal illness, he is pushed into a spiral of rage when the host of the screening—a government employee—asks him to sign a form placing restrictions on what he can say at the film’s Q&A.

The film told over the course of one day watches as Y battles against both a personal loss, and the the loss of freedom in his country.

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Ahed’s Knee will make its North American premiere in the Special Presentations section of the Toronto Film Festival in September. The project is the third of Lapid’s to be distributed by Kino Lorber.

“Nadav never fails to surprise and even shock. Cinema is a unique tool of consciousness in his inventive hands,” said Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber. “Beyond any of his previous films, Ahed’s Knee is a breakthrough work and a cri de coeur that will powerfully engage viewers on a most personal level, while illuminating a universal political dilemma. Kino Lorber is proud to continue to bring Nadav’s stunningly original films to North American audiences.”

Ahed’s Knee is not only about the current crisis of Israeli political life. It is not only about a universal crisis of freedom of speech and liberty of art and thought. In the end, it is a film about the essential state of being an individual living in a society,” added Lapid. “Can we resist injustice and vulgarity while staying human? Can we fight against monsters without becoming monsters ourselves? I’m happy to collaborate once more with Kino Lorber. We share the same vision about what’s essential in cinema. We share a thirst for uniqueness, an innovative spirit, and a hunger for artistic adventures, risks, and danger.”

The acquisition of Ahed’s Knee was negotiated by Kino Lorber Senior Vice President Wendy Lidell and Grégoire Melin of Kinology.

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