EXCLUSIVE: Gravitas Ventures has acquired worldwide rights to the Showdown Productions feature In flightwhich the company is selling at the Cannes Film Festival.
The indie thriller from director Bo Youngblood in her debut was written by John Ierardi and Drew McAnany and stars Tiffany Smith (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3) Cristo Fernandez (Ted Lasso, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Maria Russell (jury duty).
In flight The focus is on Claire Reynolds (Tiffany Smith), a high-achiever who graduated at the top of her class and is an all-star athlete. The evening before her dream trip to Paris, her best friend gives her a bon voyage toast at her favorite bar. She attracts the attention of Marco (Cristo Fernández), a mysterious, charming and handsome stranger. That’s the last thing she remembers before she wakes up on the plane with no memory of how she got there – and the games begin.
Ashley Jones, Scott Dean, Alisa Allapach, Sandi McCree, Brandon Morales, Darren Weiss, Daniel Robaire, Kelsie McDonald and Tiagz also star.
“We are thrilled to be the global partner for this exciting thriller featuring fantastic performances from Tiffany Smith and Cristo Fernández. It’s always a pleasure working with Bo and John – as we can always trust them to deliver conceptual, commercial projects like this. Gravitas is honored to be the domestic distributor for the film and looks forward to the pitch In flight to international partners in Cannes,” Danielle Gasher, executive vice president of acquisitions and international sales at Gravitas, said in a statement to Deadline.
“In flight Reminds me of the thrillers of the late 90s and early 2000s, which are equally nerve-wracking and exciting. John and Drew wrote this really entertaining, suspenseful thriller, which presented a really great opportunity to bring it to life. “Having a strong female lead driving the story is what immediately attracted me to the project because that’s not something we typically see in these types of films,” Youngblood said.
Executive producers include Cristo Fernández, Babak Movassaghi, Phil Shaltz, Michelle Graci, Natalie Marciano, Rock Jacobs, Richard Chan, Christopher Renteria, Peter Roumeliotis, Gabby Kono, Nancy Leopardi and Ryan March. Ierardi and Youngblood of Showdown Productions are producing alongside McAnany.