To wrap up the acquisitions of last week, as reported in Variety, Oscilloscope Laboratories, on the heels of announcing its October 31st release of Kurt Kuenne's Dear Zachary: a letter to a son about his father, acquired Elizabeth Chai Vashelyi's Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love, which screened to great acclaim at Toronto and Telluruide. The film follows the Senegalese pop star during the making of his 2004 album Egypt.
As reported in indieWIRE, Arthouse Films, which specializes in docs about artists and art-making, has picked up the global distribution rights to Beautiful Losers, which has been screening across America through Sidetrack Films. Aaron Rose's film about a coterie of New York-based DIY artists in the early 1990s has also been playing in Japan through Phantom Films.
Finally, as if he didn't have hid hands full already with Gonzo still in theaters, Taxi to the Dark Side on HBO and projects on Jack Abramoff and Ken Kesey in the works, Alex Gibney has signed on as executive producer of Gravity, Marah Amberlyn Strauch's doc about the extreme sport of BASE jumping-that is, the art of jumping off of buildings, cliffs and bridges and living to tell about it. The term BASE, coined by filmmaker Carl Boenish, is an acronym for Buildings, Antenna, Span and Earth. Joining Gibney on the executive producing team are Josh Braun and Dan Braun of Submarine Entertainment; , Eric Bruggemann and Jane Kachmer (Riding Giants) are producing with Strauch.