Focus Features Buys Sundance Comedy ‘Brian and Charles’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaFocus Features has acquired the worldwide rights to “Brian and Charles,” a quirky and heartfelt comedy about an unlikely friendship that debuted to rave reviews this week at the Sundance Film Festival.The film centers on Brian, a lonely inventor in rural Wales, who builds unconventional contraptions that rarely work. He soon sets out on his biggest project yet — spending three days to turn a washing machine and various spare parts into Charles, an artificially intelligent robot who learns English from a dictionary and has an obsession with cabbages.Polygon’s Oli Welsh praised the film’s “warmth and tenderness” while Thrillist’s Esther Zuckerman wrote that the movie is “adorably whimsical and downright touching.” Director Jim Archer developed the film with Film4, which co-funded the production, and the BFI, which awarded funds from the National Lottery.