SHUDDER acquires DOGS DON'T WEAR PANTS for North America

Shudder barks for Finnish thriller ‘Dogs Don’t Wear Pants’ (exclusive)

AMC Networks’ Shudder has acquired all North American rights to J-P Valkeapää’s Finnish thriller Dogs Don’t Wear Pantsfrom The Yellow Affair.

The film, which premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight before screening in Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema section, is about an emotionally paralysed man whose life is changed when he meets a dominatrix. Pekka Strang (Tom Of Finland) and Krista Kosonen (Blade Runner 2049) star.

The deal was negotiated by Emily Gotto on behalf of Shudder, and Karoliina Dwyer of The Yellow Affair.

The Yellow Affair previously sold the film to Australia/New Zealand (Umbrella), UK & Ireland (Anti-Worlds), Japan (Klockworx), Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Indeed), Russia and CIS (HHG), Czech Republic (Pilot), Greece (Ama) and Estonia (Must Kasi).

The film’s festival awards include best feature at Fantastic Fest in Austin; the Crossovers grand prix award at Strasbourg Fantastic Film Festival; and most recently best picture in the Noves Visions section at Sitges.

Valkeapää wrote the film with Juhana Lumme. Aleksi Bardy and Helen Vinogradov produce for Helsinki-filmi. Co-producers are Alise Gelze and Aija Berzina from Tasse Film (Latvia) in association with Vratislav Šlajer and Danny Holman from Bionaut (Czech Republic).

Shudder’s Gotto said: “Dogs Don’t Wear Pants is just our kind of dark-hearted valentine – a beautiful horror-romance and a provocative picture brimming with style and energy.”

Karoliina Dwyer of The Yellow Affair added: “Dogs Don’t Wear Pants is a film that straddles multiple genres. We couldn’t think of a partner better suited than Shudder to introduce this provocative and challenging film to audiences in North America.”

The Yellow Affair’s AFM slate also includes Swedish drama My Life As A Comedianand Mika Kaurismaki’s Master Cheng, which just won the audience award in Lubeck.

by Wendy Mitchell