Neon Label Super LTD Eats Up Tribeca Docu ‘Wasted! The Story Of Food Waste’ In First Deal
Neon’s newly launched boutique label Super LTD has made its first deal, acquiring rights to Wasted! The Story Of Food Waste, the documentary that counts Anthony Bourdain among its executive producers and that bowed at the Tribeca Film Festival this spring. The label, which is run by Dan O’Meara and Darcy Heusel, is eyeing an October release date.
The docu, which bowed on Earth Day at Tribeca, was directed by Anna Chai and Nari Kye and produced by Bourdain’s Zero Point Zero Films with support from The Rockefeller Foundation as part of the foundation’s YieldWise program, a $130 million commitment to cutting food waste in half. The pic features chefs including Bourdain, Dan Barber, Mario Batali, Massimo Bottura and Danny Bowien as they make the most of every kind of food, transforming what most people consider scraps into incredible dishes that create a more secure food system. It also exposes the criminality of food waste and how it’s affecting climate change.
“This is an important and informative film and a project I’m proud to be part of,” said Bourdain in a statement. “Chefs have been at the cutting edge of efforts to contend responsibly with the problem of food waste, perhaps because they, more than others, are painfully aware of the egregious volume of perfectly usable, nutritious food that could otherwise feed people in need, being thrown out in our restaurants.”
“Super LTD will create smart, customized release strategies for films that seize on the cultural and political moment. Wasted! The Story of Food Waste presents a revolutionary vision that will radically change the way we think about food. We couldn’t dream up a better movie to launch Super LTD,” said O’Meara and Heusel.
O’Meara, who is also VP Special Projects & Documentary at Neon, previously he consulted at RADiUS on social action campaigns for its documentary releases including Oscar winner Citizenfour. His producing credits also include documentaries By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, Freakonomics, and Print The Legend.
Heusel is VP Audience Engagement and Impact at Neon. She has worked on the acquisitions, distribution, and traditional and social impact marketing for independent films. In this role, she built and executed national social action campaigns for narrative and documentary projects including The Zookeeper’s Wife, America Divided, Fruitvale Station, and American Promise. She previously served as the Director of Programming and Marketing at Constellation.tv and the Director of Acquisitions and Marketing at Screen Media Films.
Joe Caterini, Christopher Collins, Kye and Lydia Tenaglia serve as executive producers of Wasted! alongside Bourdain. The deal was negotiated by Super LTD and Cinetic on behalf of the filmmakers.
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