Sundance Grand Jury Winner 'Miseducation of Cameron Post' Lands at FilmRise

The coming-of-age film — starring Chloe Grace Moretz, John Gallagher Jr. and Sasha Lane — will get a summer release.

FilmRise has acquired North American rights to Desiree Akhavan’s Sundance Grand Jury prize winner The Miseducation of Cameron Post.

FilmRise, the New York-based distributor behind Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief and the Jon Hamm-Lois Smith starrer Marjorie Prime, is planning a late summer release this year for the coming-of-age film.

Starring Chloe Grace Moretz, John Gallagher Jr., Sasha Lane, Forrest Goodluck and Jennifer Ehle, the film premiered to critical and audience acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won the coveted U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize. The Hollywood Reporter's Leslie Felperin gave the film a rave review, calling it "a delight, ... generously peppered with biting humor and warmed by a generous spirit that extends understanding, if not forgiveness, even to the religious zealot characters."

Based on the celebrated novel by Emily M. Danforth, Miseducation of Cameron Post follows the titular character (Moretz) as she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center after getting caught with another girl in the back seat of a car on prom night. Run by the strict and severe Dr. Lydia Marsh (Ehle) and her brother, Reverend Rick (Gallagher Jr.), himself an example of how those in the program can be "cured," the center is built upon repenting for “same sex attraction.” In the face of intolerance and denial, Cameron meets a group of fellow sinners including the amputee stoner Jane (Lane), and her friend, the Lakota Two-Spirit, Adam (Goodluck). Together, this group of teenagers form an unlikely family and fight to survive.

Akhavan wrote the screenplay with Cecilia Frugiuele. The film is produced by Michael B. Clark and Alex Turtletaub of Beachside and Cecilia Frugiele of Parkville Pictures alongside Jonathan Montepare. Akhavan and Parkville’s Oliver Kaempfer executive produced. Beachside financed the film.

“With The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Desiree has created a timely yet timeless, hilarious yet heartwrenching story,” said FilmRise CEO Danny Fisher. “We are proud to bring this powerful film from a rising director to wider audiences, in a time when the story is as profound and pertinent as ever.”

The fact that it took the film two months to sell is surprising, especially given its strong reviews. Grand Jury prize winners typically move during the run of the festival.

Fisher and FilmRise’s Faye Tsakas negotiated on behalf of the distributor, while UTA Independent Film Group and Endeavor Content repped the filmmakers.