Shudder Nabs U.S. Rights to ‘Bloody Tennis’ and Horror Film Grabs Buyers in Other Major Territories Ahead of Locarno World Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)
Nikias Chryssos's English-language horror film "Bloody Tennis" has secured a raft of international distribution deals ahead of its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival, with Shudder picking up US rights. The sales spree, arranged by CAA and sales agents Augenschein Sales and The Playmaker Munich, signals strong early buyer confidence in the film before audiences or critics have even seen it at Locarno.
Alongside the US deal, the film has also been sold to Australia, the Baltics, Italy, Japan, Poland and Scandinavia, with further territories still being negotiated. Set at an elite tennis academy in Southern Europe, the story follows a young player, Sophie, played by Sandra Guldberg Kampp, as she confronts brutal teammates and sinister goings-on at the school. The cast also includes Helena Zengel, Tracy Gotoas, Lucie Zhang, Lily Taieb, Elina Löwensohn and Zlatko Burić, with a score by Jim Williams ("Titane", "Raw"). It was produced by Augenschein alongside Port au Prince Film & Kultur Produktion and ZDF, and shot in Gran Canaria and Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, with Shudder set to give it its first release.
- "Bloody Tennis" horror film sells to major territories before Locarno premiere
- Shudder acquires US rights via CAA and Augenschein Sales
- Also sold to Australia, Italy, Japan, Poland, Baltics, Scandinavia
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Bloody Tennis is an English-language horror film directed by Nikias Chryssos, set at an elite tennis academy in Southern Europe, where a young player named Sophie finds herself facing brutal rivals and darker forces at the school. It stars Sandra Guldberg Kampp alongside a cast that includes Helena Zengel, Tracy Gotoas and Zlatko Burić, and was made by production companies Augenschein, Port au Prince Film & Kultur Produktion and ZDF, filmed across Gran Canaria and Germany.
The film is about to have its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, one of the longer-running events on the international film festival circuit where new and upcoming titles are shown to industry buyers and critics for the first time. Ahead of that screening, distributors in several countries have already agreed to buy the rights to release the film, a sign of the trade interest films can generate even before the public has seen them.
Streaming service Shudder, which specialises in horror content, has bought the rights to show the film in the US. Deals covering other territories, including Australia, Italy and Japan, were arranged by the talent agency CAA together with sales agents Augenschein Sales and The Playmaker Munich, whose job is to negotiate distribution rights with buyers around the world on a film's behalf.