Director Andrew Jarecki has quite literally taken his film back into his own hands. From The (fledgling) Weinstein Company, that is. Jarecki gained critical acclaim for his piercing documentary Capturing the Friedmans and has been making All Good Things for years upon years, inspired by the true story of Robert Durst, son of a wealthy New York family who was accused of killing his neighbor and suspected of killing his wife.

Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst star as the wealthy couple; the film’s been finished for nearly two years, lingering in distribution hell thanks to TWC’s failing bank statements over the last few years.

Jarecki, the founder of Moviefone, bought back his film from TWC for several million dollars:

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Thanks to this article from Anne Thompson over at indieWIRE, it appears that The Weinstein Company has just landed a huge buy. The film is called Blue Valentine, and it’s one of the most highly-buzzed films coming out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film is directed by Derek Cianfrance, and although he is certainly a respected name in the industry, my excitement for the film stems mostly from the lead actors. Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) and Michelle Williams (Wendy and Lucy) star in this film as a married couple struggling with their mutual ambition. Based on what I’ve read thus far, it appears that the film cuts between time periods, from when the couple was young, vibrant, and happy, to their current state of misunderstandings and distance.

On top of this, Harvey Weinstein is also going after The Tillman Story, which is one of Sundance’s favorites in the documentary genre. Here is the press release:

The Weinstein Co. nabbed U.S., Canadian and Pan-Asian satellite territory rights to Derek Cianfrance’s romantic drama starring the pair in a low-seven-figure deal.

WME Global chief Graham Taylor was in an anxious huddle at a restaurant off Main Street well after midnight Thursday with “Blue Valentine” producers (and his personal valentine) Lynette Howell, Jamie Patricof and Alex Orlovsky, (the team behind the 2006 Sundance hit “Half Nelson”) as all-night negotiations were going down. IFC Films and Sony Pictures Classics were also said to be in the mix.

After a somewhat rocky 2009, the Weinsteins have to be thrilled with this buy. We all know how bad Nine turned out — both critically and commercially — and although Inglourious Basterds makes up for a lot of the damage, there is still some ground to be made up. I know I couldn’t be more excited for this film, as I think Gosling and Williams are two of the best indie actors working today.

What about you? Do you think this film can help reinvigorate The Weinstein Company, or does it seem like another bust?

It looks as though we will be seeing a lot of Nine promotion on ABC. The Weinstein Company, still struggling to stay above financial waters it seems, has signed a pact with Disney/ABC Unlimited to pepper the high-profile Rob Marshall musical all over ABC television, whether it’s applying the song “Be Italian” (from the “Nine” musical) into Dancing With The Stars (matching dress ensembles included) or name-dropped in day-time soaps.

Disney will also offer a road block-style trailer on ABC and the majority of ABC/Disney own cable channels on November 22nd. ABC.com is even devoting a microsite to the film on the master Web site, “streaming of the movie trailer and a half-hour “Making of ‘Nine’” special.” [Variety]

This harks back to the way TWC handled the release of Inglourious Basterds, splitting the work with Universal, forfeiting most of the international take to the big studio.

While it’s a smart, “hedge you bets” kind of move that worked in the case of the $300 million grossing Basterds, it’s still a bet that may not pay off. But TWC and Disney are covering all media bases, from TV to Internet. “The audience is not just watching TV,” he said. “There’s a fragmentation. They’re also online, they’re accessing shows on Blackberrys. This allows us to say, this is the depth of programming we want to access. We want to go after audiences on several fronts,” said Francois Martin, senior vice president of marketing at the Weinstein Co. [Variety].