Wolfe Releasing has acquired all North American rights for director Magnus Gertten’s feature documentary “Nelly & Nadine” ahead of its North American premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on April 30. Wolfe Releasing has slated the documentary for a theatrical and streaming release in late 2022.
Produced by Ove Rishøj Jensen from Auto Images, “Nelly & Nadine” had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, where it won the Teddy Jury Award, the highest honor for an LGBTQ+ film.
“Nelly & Nadine” is the story of two women who fall in love on Christmas Eve 1944 in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Despite being separated in the last months of the war, Nelly and Nadine manage to later reunite and spend the rest of their lives together. For many years their love story was kept a secret, even to some of their closest family. Now Nelly’s granddaughter, Sylvie, has decided to open their unseen personal archives and uncover their remarkable story.
The deal was negotiated by Kathy Wolfe and Evan Schwartz from Wolfe Releasing, and Diana Karklin and Stefan Kloos of Rise and Shine World Sales on behalf of the filmmakers.
“We are honored and excited to present ‘Nelly & Nadine,’ a powerful, universal love story which is a rare piece of LGBTQ+ history,” said Wolfe, president and founder of Wolfe Releasing. “‘Nelly & Nadine’ is an affirming reminder that despite adversity and trauma – especially relevant today – love always wins.”
“Beyond the strong LGBTQ+ dimension of the film, ‘Nelly & Nadine’ is a genuinely universal story of love, affection, courage and humanity that speaks to everybody who has a heart. We found the perfect partner in Wolfe Releasing to bring this outstanding story to a wide audience in North America,” said Stefan Kloos, managing director of Rise and Shine World Sales.
“It feels very cool to work with Wolfe Releasing for the distribution of ‘Nelly & Nadine’ in North America,” said director Magnus Gertten. “As a director it is very important to feel that your film is handled by such competent and dedicated distributors as the Wolfe team. I’m glad that more people will now experience Nelly and Nadine’s remarkable story.”
