#NM Goats – Seeking Distribution
UPDATE: Image Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Goats! The indie film distributor, which also released NM production Passion Play, is planning a theatrical release this spring.
Thanks Brent via THR
Christopher Neil’s directorial debut recently screened at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in Park City Utah. His film, Goats shot right here in NM last spring and featured some of our favorite local talent, including Vince McDaniel and Shenita Moore.
Here are a few reviews from that screening:
“Goats is…filled with gorgeously composed shots and some absolutely stunning cinematography by Wyatt Troll. The shots in the desert are of a painterly beauty…” – Movie City News
A “perfectly balanced, albeit insane cast.” – Screencrave
“The cast presents the subtle humor and the deep touching moments eloquently. This film is a must see for anyone that enjoys a coming of age story…” – Christian Cinema
“Goats defies convention by blurring the lines between genres and challenging the notion of what the typical coming of age story needs to be. The film surprises at every turn.” – Pro Networks
Synopsis:
Having a self-absorbed New Age mother and an estranged father means 15-year-old Ellis Whitman has grown up relying on an unconventional guardian: a goat-trekking, marijuana-growing sage called Goat Man. So when Ellis decides to leave the alternative ways of his desert homestead for a stuffy East Coast prep school, major changes are in store. But not in the way you’d think. Though often stoned, the exceedingly smart and capable Ellis effortlessly aces school and excels at track. As the year progresses, it’s his relationships with the adults in his life that test him, challenging his beliefs about responsibility and trustworthiness.
With its expansive vision of family and passel of delicious oddball characters transposed from screenwriter Poirier’s novel with deadpan naturalism, GOATS wryly balances satire with poignancy and tenderness. Ellis’s eventual disillusionment with his various “parents” forces him to seek and find strength within and to realize the truth about love: it’s never perfect, but it is always there. – C.N.
The Goats script is an adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name. Both the novel and the screenplay were penned by Mark Poirier.
The film stars David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, Ty Burrell, Justin Kirk, Anthony Anderson, Keri Russell, and Graham Phillips. In addition to the New Mexico shoot, the 2011 production also filmed in Tucson, Arizona and Watertown, Connecticut.
Goats is currently seeking distribution.
