23-04-2025
Film Movement Acquires N. America For ‘An American Pastoral' Doc Capturing Toxic U.S. Public School Meetings
EXCLUSIVE: Film Movement has acquired North American rights for French filmmaker Auberi Edler's documentary An American Pastoral, chronicling the struggles in a rural Pennsylvanian community over the future of its public schools.
The cinema vérité-style work – produced by Les Films d'Ici Méditerranée – won the Best Directing Award at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
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Film Movement have slated the work for a theatrical release in 2025, to be followed by a launch on leading digital platforms and the home entertainment marketplace.
The documentary captures the battle for control of public schools in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, a picturesque town situated in the rolling farmland of Lancaster County.
On the surface, it has all the charm of small-town America but behind its bucolic veneer lies a fracture in the making as local school board meetings turn into a battleground.
After months of vitriolic debates over Covid-19 restrictions, budget priorities, and library books, four of the five long-serving Republican incumbents announce their retirement, leaving the door open for far-right Christian Nationalists to potentially seize control.
The acquisition announcement was made by Film Movement President Michael Rosenberg and Arianna Castoldi, Head of Documentary Sales for Mediawan.
'In true vérité style, Edler offers no narration or commentary, instead letting the interpersonal dramas and behind-the-scenes events play out on screen in absorbing fashion,' said Rosenberg. 'At a time when politics has seeped into every facet of our lives, An American Pastoral shows how the fraying of our national fabric is playing out locally.'
Further recent acquisitions for Film Movement include Marie Losier's Queer Lion-nominee Peaches Goes Bananas, Shall We Dance?, starring Oscar nominee Koji Yakusho, and Pedro Martin-Calero's The Wailing.
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