Liv Ullmann Doc ‘A Road Less Traveled’ Goes To Juno Films
24.10.2023 - 20:11
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Boutique distributor Juno Films has acquired North American and UK rights to Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Traveled, a portrait of the iconic Norwegian actress and filmmaker from director Dheeraj Akolkar (Liv & Ingmar). World premiering in the Classics section of the 76th Festival de Cannes, the doc will make its North American debut at DOC NYC ahead of a spring 2024 launch in theaters.
Best known as the muse and one-time romantic partner of Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, Ullmann performed in films of his including Persona, Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage, The Passion of Anna, and Autumn Sonata, among others. She received an Honorary Oscar in 2022, after scoring noms for The Emigrants and Face to Face, and has also helmed titles like Faithless and the Jessica Chastain starrer Miss Julie. Alongside her career in the arts is a run in philanthropy that’s seen her serve as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, also co-founding and serving as honorary chair of the Women’s Refugee Commission.
In her second doc with Akolkar, on the heels of 2012’s Liv & Ingmar, Ullmann offers reflections on her hopes, fears, grief, rejections, dreams pursued, and lessons learned. Her indomitable presence as an actor, writer, director, and activist is revealed through her own writings and the accounts of close friends and collaborators like Chastain, Cate Blanchett, Jeremy Irons, John Lithgow, and Sam Waterston.
The deal was negotiated between producer Hege Christensen for Teddy TV and Juno Films CEO Elizabeth Sheldon. Stated the latter, “Dheeraj’s film is a tribute to a woman who was an icon of the silver screen, who then went on to become a critically acclaimed director, and then a global ambassador on behalf of those who do not