• Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Rehearsals for a Revolution across North and Latin America, Asia, and other key territories
• The film won the L’Oeil d’Or, Cannes Film Festival’s top documentary prize, chosen from 21 competing films
• It marks the debut feature from Iranian actress-turned-director Pegah Ahangarani, who dedicated the award to the people of Iran
• The documentary spans more than 40 years of Iranian history through five intimate portraits of Ahangarani’s relatives and mentors
• The jury was led by Oscar winner Mstyslav Chernov, who praised its “masterful script and vivid, urgent storytelling”

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Rehearsals for a Revolution, the Cannes Film Festival’s L’Oeil d’Or-winning documentary from debut director Pegah Ahangarani — and if the reaction at the Croisette is any indication, North American audiences are in for something genuinely extraordinary.

SPC picked up all rights in North and Latin America, Asia (except Japan), New Zealand, Turkey, Portugal, and worldwide airlines. The deal was negotiated between Sony Pictures Classics and The Party Film Sales on behalf of the filmmakers.

The film premiered in the Special Screenings section at Cannes, where it was immediately praised by audiences and critics alike. Then came the prize. The L’Oeil d’Or jury — presided over by Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov and including Tabitha Jackson, Géraldine Pailhas, Lina Soualem, and Victor Chastanet — selected it from a field of 21 films drawn from the Official Selection, Critics’ Week, Directors’ Fortnight, and the ACID sidebar.

“This film allows us to enter the intricate and complex reality of contemporary Iran through a braiding of personal, historical, and poetic cinema,” the jury said in their citation. “In its search to find the language to express the truths of the moment, Rehearsals for a Revolution is not afraid to question its own gestures — to doubt itself and to be vulnerable. The jury was struck by the masterful script and vivid, urgent storytelling, and by a filmmaker who carried us through violent waves of history while never losing sight of the value of each individual human life.”

A Debut 40 Years in the Making

Ahangarani, best known as an actress before stepping behind the camera, constructed the film across six chapters drawn from her own life — weaving together personal archives, home videos, street protest footage, newspapers, and recorded voices to retrace more than four decades of Iran’s history. From the early days of 1979 through the war that began in 2026, she pieces together intimate and collective memories: her filmmaker parents, the tragic death of her uncle Rashid, the birth of her daughter.

The title itself carries real weight. Ahangarani told Deadline’s Damon Wise that she was still getting used to it when the festival began.

“What convinced me, I think, is that the word ‘rehearsal’ often refers to art and cinema, which reflects the fact that I myself come from an acting career,” she said. “But it also refers to the voice of Rashid, in the third chapter, when he says that Iran is a country of failed revolutions. This is something that might sound sad and a bit desperate, but at the same time, it’s true. There’s been quite a lot of failed revolutions, but there is also hope. Rehearsal means there’s still time for one final revolution.”

When she accepted the award in the presence of Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux, she dedicated it to the people of Iran.

The Hollywood Reporter called the film “a powerful documentary self-portrait that spans decades of resistance and repression in Iran,” noting that it “looks forward to a time, perhaps not too far in the future, when all the rehearsed revolutions she experienced will finally lead to a real one.” Their review also described it as “a cautionary tale about speaking up in a place where rebellion can cost you your livelihood, and quite possibly your life” — and a portrait of a family that lost loved ones to a regime they once supported, only to find themselves betrayed by it.

The film was written and directed by Ahangarani and edited by Arash Ashtiani, with co-writers Ehsan Abdipour, Amir Ahmadi Arian, Arash Ashtiani, and Majed Neisi. It was made in association with Czech Republic’s Media Nest and Spain’s Fasten Films.

The L’Oeil d’Or prize — now in its 11th year, presented in partnership with LaScam, the French-speaking society for non-fiction authors — comes with a €5,000 award. The jury also gave a Special Mention to Tin Castle, directed by Alexander Murphy, a film about the O’Reillys, a family of Irish Travelers living in a caravan.

“Rehearsal means there’s still time for one final revolution.” That line will stay with you long after the credits roll.

The post Sony Classics Acquires Cannes Doc Winner ‘Rehearsals for a Revolution’ appeared first on Cream.

• Sony Pictures Classics acquired Iron Boy out of Cannes, picking up rights for North America, Latin America, India, and Southeast Asian TV.
• The hand-drawn animated film is the solo directorial debut of Louis Clichy, a former Pixar animator who worked on WALL-E and Up.
• The film premiered in Cannes’ prestigious Un Certain Regard sidebar and drew strong reviews from international press.
• Clichy drew from his own rural French upbringing — and his real experience wearing a corrective corset — to shape the story.
• His own son, Gary Clichy, voices the 11-year-old lead character.

Louis Clichy spent years helping bring Pixar’s most beloved films to life. Now he’s stepping out on his own — and the world is paying attention. The French director’s hand-drawn debut feature Iron Boy has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics following its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the 79th Cannes Film Festival, with SPC landing rights across North America, Latin America, India, and Southeast Asian TV.

The deal was brokered by Playtime co-CEO Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, who made clear just how well the film landed on the Croisette. “Coming into Cannes, we knew the film would be well received, but its success exceeded even our expectations both in terms of sales and reviews from the international press,” he said. “It feels only natural that Iron Boy has found a home in the U.S. with SPC. Over the years, we built a strong working relationship with Tom, Michael, and Dylan. They are not only exceptional distributors, admittedly among the very best in the industry, but also people of great sensitivity and taste. They will take this film very far.”

Variety called it “both visually dazzling and deeply personal” — and that’s not just critical shorthand. This one comes from somewhere real.

A Story Rooted in the Director’s Own Childhood

Iron Boy — known in French as Le Corset — follows Christophe, an 11-year-old boy growing up on a farm in rural France with a strict, emotionally distant father. Without explanation, Christophe begins to lean sideways and topple over, landing him in a metal brace that runs from his torso up to his chin. Unable to work the farm, he finds an unlikely escape through the enormous pipe organ at his local church, and through the quiet mentorship of an elderly organist who shows him more kindness than most people in his life ever have.

Clichy didn’t have to imagine much of it. “I come from an agricultural background, but I moved to the city when I was 11 and my parents divorced,” he told Variety. “I didn’t want to tell my own story — I just borrowed some things that were important to me.” That includes the corset itself, which the director wore as a child. “The corset is a metaphor for adolescence,” he said. “When you’re that age, you don’t feel comfortable; you want to cover up your body. It exaggerates this whole idea of not being happy with what’s going on. Also, in a way, you have to be very ‘straight’ to survive on a farm. And he’s different.”

He was also careful not to let the film’s emotional weight tip into caricature. “I didn’t want anyone here to feel like a stereotype,” Clichy said. “Christophe’s father doesn’t like to express his feelings — he’s from that generation of men — but he loves sentimental pop songs and that already tells you a lot.”

The organist character, Michel, is played by Alexandre Astier — Clichy’s former co-directing partner on the two Astérix films. The casting is fitting: Clichy describes the relationship between Christophe and Michel as something deeper than a music lesson. “He finds another father figure in that church organist. Christophe needs someone to take care of him. I’m not sure if this boy is actually a good musician. I didn’t want him to play in a big concert or win a competition à la Billy Elliot. He’s not Mozart, you know. He just likes this teacher and appreciates their time together.”

Hand-Painted, Frame by Frame

After years at Pixar and two CGI-heavy Astérix features, Clichy made a deliberate choice to go back to basics. He calls Iron Boy “traditional animation” — developed frame by frame, rendered in what the film’s Variety review describes as Chinese inkbrush paintings that “make straight lines feel fluid, like memories.”

“CGI and 3D have become so fashionable, but after Astérix I wanted to go back to something much simpler,” Clichy said. “That’s exactly what I’ve done.” The roughness of the style was a feature, not a bug. “I liked the fact that everything was a bit… rough. It allowed me to be spontaneous, and fast and furious. It can be tough because you still want to communicate so much, and all you have is one line. It forced me to be precise.”

He also took an unconventional approach to voice recording, placing actors on actual farms rather than in sterile studio booths — a choice that gives the film a naturalistic texture that critics noticed immediately. The voice cast includes Gary Clichy (the director’s own son as Christophe), Rod Paradot, Brune Moulin, Dimitri Colas, Aurélie Vassort, and Jean-Pascal Zadi, with animation by Chloë Aubert. The screenplay was co-written by Clichy and Franck Salomé.

The film was produced by Céline Vanlint and Nicolas de Rosanbo for Eddy Cinéma, in co-production with Fabrice Delville and Christophe Toulemonde for Beside Production, and Agathe Sofer and Alexandre Astier for Regular Production, along with France 3 Cinéma, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, and RTBF.

The smaller budget, Clichy said, ultimately freed him. “With animation, people either go very commercial or very arty, and then many viewers go: ‘This is not for me.’ I wanted to take a little bit of everything. There are animated films like that — it’s enough to look at Miyazaki, who often paints a realistic picture of the state of the world. I was really inspired by that.”

A New Voice in Animation — and Cannes Noticed

Clichy was candid about what it feels like to show up at Cannes as an animator. “For us animators, Cannes is a foreign world. There’s way more ego around. Also, there are still all these stereotypes about what animation is, like it being ‘over the top’ or just for children. But we can do subtle stuff too, because animators are really good actors.” He paused, then added: “Animation is expensive, so many people don’t want to take risks. But that’s our responsibility!”

The critical response suggests he made the right call. Reviewer Chase Hutchinson described Iron Boy as “a bittersweet, gorgeously animated family film that looks like a watercolor painting come to life” — a solo debut whose “sense of imagination is matched only by its sharp craft and the passionate care of its storytelling.” He went further: “Drawing from much of the director’s own life and proving all the more vibrant because of its specificity, it’s the type of film that already feels like it could become a new classic for animation lovers new and old.”

With Sony Pictures Classics now behind it, that new classic has a path to American audiences. No U.S. release date has been announced yet — but given SPC’s track record with prestige international cinema, Iron Boy is exactly the kind of film they’ll know how to bring home.

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