Cannes 2012: Weinstein Co. buys Libyan revolution documentary
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CANNES, France -- For the second time in as many days at the Cannes Film Festival, Harvey Weinstein has gotten political.
The independent-film mogul has bought “The Oath of Tobruk,” a documentary about the 2011 Libyan revolution directed by the provocateur French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy. The acquisition comes a day after Weinstein picked up “Code Name Geronimo,” a narrative film about the killing of Osama bin Laden, in the Cannes market.
‘Tobruk,’ which was a late addition to the festival’s main selection, follows the efforts in Libya as well as the U.S. and Europe to support the rebels and oust Moammar Kadafi. Weinstein said he saw the movie as relevant to revolutions that are still going on, and one in particular.
Weinstein “sees this acquisition as a political action that could provide hope for other countries in a similar state of peril including Syria,” the Weinstein Co. company said in a statement announcing the deal.
No release date has been set for the film.
Weinstein previously waded into the Middle East with the acquisition of ‘Miral,’ Julian Schnabel’s movie about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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-- Steven Zeitchik
