Edward Said: Between Worlds heads to festivals without a distributor
A new documentary about the late writer Edward Said has entered the autumn festival circuit still looking for a buyer.
Edward Said: Between Worlds, directed by Maiken Baird, had its world premiere in Toronto and moved on to New York. It runs 1 hour 48 minutes, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Said was a professor of literature at Columbia University and the author of The Question of Palestine, published in 1979. The film centres on memory and Palestinian identity, according to Al-Ahram. His books and university teaching sit at the heart of the story.
Baird made the film with producer Sarah Mowaswes outside the studio system. The pair chose to work independently, they told The Hollywood Reporter in September, meaning there was no studio or streamer behind the project from the start. Baird previously executive-produced the documentaries Icarus and Orwell: 2+2=5. Mowaswes joined her to discuss Said's legacy and that independent route.
On the calendar, the film was listed for TIFF Docs, the documentary section of the Toronto International Film Festival, and for Spotlight at the New York Film Festival. The New York slot was confirmed in August, when The Hollywood Reporter published the Spotlight line-up. It was also named to the line-up for the 35th-anniversary Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in the United States, according to the festival. Festivals of this kind often act as a shop window, where cinema owners and streaming buyers see new work.
Distribution, the deal that puts a film into cinemas or onto a streaming service, had not been settled after Toronto and New York. The Hollywood Reporter reported the United States production was still seeking distribution after those showings. That leaves the question of when general audiences will be able to see it.
What makes this stand out for festival watchers is the gap in time. The last portrait built around Said, Mike Dobbs's Edward Said: The Last Interview, was released in 2004. This new film returns to his life and arguments more than two decades later.
