April 09, 2014, New York:  ICARUS FILMS today announced its acquisition of all North American distribution rights, including theatrical, non-theatrical, home entertainment, and television rights, to the LEVEL FIVE (106 minutes), Chris Marker’s 1996 feature film about a female video game developer, computer networks, and the Battle of Okinawa, in a new restoration.

While working on a game about the Battle of Okinawa, Laura, played with quiet intensity by Catherine Belkhodja, becomes increasingly drawn into her work and fascinated by the WWII battle that took place there, in which 150,000 Japanese were killed, many by suicide.

An elaborate, colorful patchwork of mesmerizing, pixelated images, fiction sequences with Belkhodja, archives, history, interviews (including with the Japanese director Nagisa Oshima), and quasi-science fiction, LEVEL FIVE prefigures the legendary auteur’s fascination with digital worlds, which he also explored in installations, interactive CD-ROMs, and later, digital platforms.

ICARUS FILMS plans a long-awaited LEVEL FIVE U.S. theatrical premiere release later this summer 2014 at BAMcinématek in New York, followed by a consumer DVD and digital release for home entertainment audiences. 

The deal for North American distribution was negotiated by Jonathan Miller for Icarus Films and Florence Dauman of Argos Films (Paris, France).

LEVEL FIVE joins eighteen other films by Chris Marker that are distributed by Icarus Films, including LE JOLI MAI, FAR FROM VIETNAM, A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT, and ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF ANDREI ARSENEVICH.

Via Icarus Films.