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Music Box Films has bought U.S. rights to "Ghost Trail," Jonathan Millet's tense revenge thriller, from MK2 films ("Anatomy of a Fall").
Millet's feature debut premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it opened the Critic's Week section. It has since screened at the BFI London and Vancouver film festivals.
"Ghost Trail" will hold its U.S. premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival on Friday night. Music Box Films will release "Ghost Trail" next spring.
Based on true events, "Ghost Trail" stars up-and-coming French actor Adam Bessa as Hamid, a Syrian refugee who has relocated to France as part of a secret group pursuing the Syrian regime's fugitive leaders. "His mission takes him on the trail of his former torturer -- spending his days locating the prison guard from his past. With his judgment clouded by pressure, doubt and revenge, will Hamid be ready to confront him?" reads the synopsis.
"'Ghost Trail' was one of the great discoveries of this year's Cannes lineup, a fiction debut that feels as assured, deliberate, and finely-crafted as any film we've seen this year," Music Box said in a statement. "Jonathan Millet's film is a terrific thriller that puts a human face on a deadly serious geopolitical situation."
Music Box highlighted the timeliness of the film, whose backdrop in Syria "has long been pushed off the front pages" but "remains a a highly consequential conflict with reverberations still felt today."
Millet, meanwhile, said "references for writing and directing 'Ghost Trail' all come from American cinema of the 1970s."
"I am therefore particularly thrilled with its U.S. release, Thanks to Music Box Films for bringing it to the theaters," Millet continued.
"Ghost Trail" was produced by Pauline Seigland from Films Grand Huit. The sale of the film was negotiated by Brian Andreotti of Music Box Films and Quentin Bohanna at MK2 Films on behalf of the filmmakers.
Current and upcoming Music Box releases include "In the Summers," Alessandra Lacorazza's heartfelt coming-of-age directorial debut that won the two top prizes in the U.S. dramatic competition at Sundance, and Cannes Directors' Fortnight baseball comedy "Eephus" by Carson Lund.