Sundance: Sony Classics Takes Gay Love Story 'Call Me by Your Name'

The film, directed by Luca Guadagnino, stars Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet.

In advance of the Sundance Film Festival, Sony Pictures Classics has swooped in and scooped up worldwide rights to Call Me by Your Name, a gay love story directed by Italy’s Luca Guadagnino, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Set to debut in the festival’s Premieres section on Jan. 22, Call Me by Your Name is based on Andre Aciman’s novel of the same name and stars Armie Hammer as a 24-year old American scholar spending the summer of 1983 in Northern Italy, where he attracts the attention of a 17-year-old Jewish-American boy, played by Timothee Chalamet. Michael Stuhlbarg rounds out the cast as the boy’s father.

Guadagnino's I Am Love played Sundance in 2010, and he recently directed A Bigger Spash and the upcoming Suspiria. He co-wrote Call Me by Your Name's screenplay with James Ivory and Walter Fasano. Producers include Peter Spears, Emilie Georges, Guadagnino, Ivory, Marco Morabito, Howard Rosenman and Rodrigo Teixeira. Serving as executive producers are Naima Abed, Tom Dolby, Sophie Mas, Francesco Melzi, Lourenco Sant’Anna, Derek Simonds and Margarethe Baillou. The film also contains original songs written and performed by Sufjan Stevens.

"Sony Pictures Classics has always struck me as the ideal home for cinema of real auteurs. It is a place where the search for a language and for unique stories is welcomed with enthusiasm and generosity by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Dylan Leiner. To me, the collaboration with his excellent team is a dream come true, and Call Me by Your Name is the perfect project for it. It is a very personal project, and making it was a moving journey," said Guadagnino. "It is a film about the inexorable force of desire and love, as experienced through any path one might find on his/her way."

In a statement, SPC said, "Visually rich, stunning, deeply emotional and sensual, Call Me By Your Name confirms Luca Guadagnino as one of the world's master filmmakers. It will be a privilege to bring the movie to audiences around the world."

The deal was negotiated by WME Global and UTA Independent Film Group, on behalf of the filmmakers.