Bruce LaBruce’s ‘The Visitor’ Acquired by Utopia for U.S., U.K.

Utopia‘s label Circle Collective has bought Bruce LaBruce‘s bold and thought-provoking film “The Visitor” for North America and the U.K. Represented in international markets by Best Friend Forever, “The Visitor” world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section.

A London-set reimagining of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1968 film “Teorema,” “The Visitor” stars the well-known performance artist Bishop Black as a refugee who emerges naked from a mysterious suitcase on the banks of the Thames. Entering the lives of a privileged white family, he becomes their employee and conquers each member of the family in a series of explicit encounters where taboos are shattered.

The cast is completed by Macklin Kowal, Amy Kingsmill, Luca Federici, Ray Filar and Kurtis Lincoln. The film was presented as an installation by A/political, an art and activist body, during Frieze London, a contemporary art fair.

LaBruce said he wanted “The Visitor” to “pay homage to Pasolini’s masterpiece by reimagining it through the lens of contemporary queer aesthetics and sexual politics. The filmmaker added that he also aimed at “grounding it in a the larger sociopolitical context of the rise of the extreme right in the U.K. and Europe with its attendant racist policies and strategies of vilifying, demeaning and sexualizing ‘the other.’”

Utopia and Circle Collective’s executive Kyle Greenberg described “The Visitor” as a “glistening and radical piece of art.” ”Embedded with LaBruce’s renegade spirit, plus a surplus of sex and subversiveness, ‘The Visitor’ is a refreshing, urgent and dangerous piece of cinema you can’t dare to skip,” Greenberg said in a statement.

“The Visitor” is an A/political Production. Producers are Victor Fraga and Alex Babboni. The script was written by LaBruce, Fraga and Babboni. The key crew is led by cinematographer Jack Hamilton and editor Judy Landkammer, with a score by Hannah Holland.

This deal was negotiated by Candace Tan for Circle Collective with Best Friend Forever co-founders Charles Bin and Martin Gondre on behalf of the filmmakers.

LaBruce’s previous credits include “Hustler White” and “Gerontophilia,” which won the Grand Prix at the Nouveau Cinéma Festival in Montreal.