Toronto: Tribeca Film Snags Cop Thriller ‘Hyena’ (original) (raw)
Tribeca Film has snagged North American rights to cop thriller “Hyena” following its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s planning a 2015 theatrical release for the picture.
The film follows a corrupt police officer who begins losing his grip just as a ruthless group of Albanian gangsters move to seize control of London’s criminal underworld. The ultra-violent film comes courtesy of writer and director Gerard Johnson (“Tony”) and has been compared in its propensity for bloodshed and moral rot to the work of Abel Ferrara and Nicolas Winding Refn.
In a review in Variety, Guy Lodge found the story to be overly familiar, but hailed the way it was told, writing, “What ‘Hyena’ lacks in invention, however, it makes up for in technical bravado and geographical specificity.”
The film stars Peter Ferdinando (“Starred Up”), Stephen Graham (“Boardwalk Empire”) and Richard Dormer (“Game of Thrones”).
The deal was negotiated for Tribeca Film by acquisitions director Nick Savva, while Abigail Walsh of Independent Film Sales worked on behalf of the filmmakers.