Cohen Media Group sets December bow for Everybody Digs Bill Evans

Cohen Media Group will open Everybody Digs Bill Evans in New York on December 4 before rolling it out more widely on January 9, 2027.

The December 4 date is an Oscar-qualifying run at The Quad in New York City, a short cinema engagement that makes a film eligible for the Academy Awards, according to Deadline. The distributor has also released a first trailer for the jazz drama ahead of that launch.

The awards plan is already set. Cohen Media Group will submit Anders Danielsen Lie for Best Actor, Bill Pullman for Best Supporting Actor and Laurie Metcalf for Best Supporting Actress, Deadline reported on October 16.

Lie stars as jazz pianist Bill Evans. Pullman and Metcalf play Evans' parents. The cast also includes Barry Ward, Valene Kane and Katie McGrath.

The film was directed by Grant Gee. It world premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where Gee won the Silver Bear for Directing, Berlin's prize for best director.

It is a portrait of a short, charged period. The story largely takes place in the summer of 1961, as Evans forms his celebrated trio and records two landmark live albums. That run of creativity is cut short by the sudden death of his young bassist and creative partner Scott LaFaro, an event the distributor places at the centre of the film, according to Variety.

The script was adapted by Mark O'Halloran from Intermission, the novel by Owen Martell. Janine Marmot and Alan Maher are the producers.

Cohen Media Group acquired the film for distribution in the United States after its Berlin debut. Before the New York opening, it will kick off the competition at the Ojai Film Festival on November 6, according to Deadline.

For audiences, this means a slow rollout. A single New York screen in December. Then a broader release in the new year.