Vertigo Releasing announced today that THE ASSISTANT will now receive a digital release on 1st May 2020 having been postponed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The film was due to be released in cinemas on the 3rd April but following the government lockdown and cinema closures Vertigo delayed the film’s release. Instead, the film will be available on digital platforms including iTunes, Amazon, Sky, Virgin, Google and Microsoft. Additionally, the film will be available on streaming platforms Curzon Home Cinema and BFI Player as a premium title.
The film is directed by Kitty Green (Casting JonBenet) and stars Emmy Award-winner Julia Garner (Ozark), Matthew MacFadyen (Succession) and Kristine Forseth (Low Tide). Kitty Green, Scott Macaulay, James Schamus, P. Jennifer Dana and Ross Jacobson of 3311 Productions produced the film. Green’s timely first narrative feature follows on from her provocative award-winning documentaries including Ukraine Is Not a Brothel and Casting JonBenet.
Inspired by real-life stories, THE ASSISTANT follows an ambitious young woman, played by Garner, working for a powerful unnamed film producer through one day that may define her future. Meticulously researched and written by Green, the film is a fictional exploration of one of the most destructive issues in today’s workplace, as a low-level employee at a top media company tries to reconcile her own beliefs with a deeply entrenched atmosphere of abuse and exploitation.
The filmmakers, producers and financiers have partnered with The New York Women’s Foundation and will donate 10% of their profits from the film to support The Foundation, which gives grants women-led, community-based organisations that promote the economic security, safety, and health of women and families in New York City, where the film was made. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.nywf.org
Wahida Niblo, Head of Distribution at Vertigo said of the release date change, “As with all film companies, we are constantly reacting to the changing environment of the Coronavirus. However, we feel, now more than ever, this film tackles a timely issue which affects most industries and deserves to be seen by audiences”
Synopsis:
THE ASSISTANT follows one day in the life of Jane (Julia Garner), a recent college graduate and aspiring film producer, who has landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. Her day is much like any other assistant’s – making coffee, changing the paper in the copy machine, ordering lunch, arranging travel, taking phone messages, onboarding a new hire. As Jane follows her daily routine she, and we, grow increasingly aware of the abuse that insidiously colors every aspect of her work day, an accumulation of degradations against which Jane decides to take a stand, only to discover the true depth of the system into which she has entered.
THE ASSISTANT will be released on digital platforms on 1st May, 2020
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