First up in this bevy of acquisitions is the directorial debut from actress Vera Farmiga entitled Higher Ground. The film, which debuted at Sundance, will be picked up by Sony Picture’s Classics (via Deadline) but no word on when they plan to release it. The film, which made our ‘Best of Sundance‘ list, tells the story of a couple who enter into a religious commune. SPC is usually pretty good at launching Oscar campaigns for their smaller films picked up at film festivals (Frozen River, Mother and Child, Animal Kingdom, etc.) so it might be interesting to see if Farmiga’s film ends up on the Oscar radar come next year.

In what seems like a ‘no-brainer’, Magnolia has picked up the rights to Alex Gibney and Allison Ellwood‘s LCD documentary called Magic Trip. Magnolia has distributed most of the documentaries by this pair of filmmakers including Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer and  Freakonomics (via Deadline).

It has also been announced that FilmDistrict will partner with Miramax to release the horror film Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark this August. The Guillermo Del Toro-produced remake stars Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce as the parents of a little girl who unleashes demons into her Rhode Island family home. The film is directed by newcomer Troy Nixey with a script by Del Toro and Matthew Robbins (via Latino Review).

Which film are you looking forward to most?

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