still from chuck chuck baby featuring two women sliding down a grassy hill on a sled

The Yellow Affair sells Janis Pugh’s debut feature Chuck Chuck Baby to multiple territories

Los Angeles-based Dark Star Pictures has acquired North American rights to Janis Pugh’s debut feature Chuck Chuck Baby. The film has also been picked up for UK & Eire (Studio Soho), Scandinavia & Baltics (NonStop), Germany & Austria (Salzgeber), Spain (Yoda Pictures), Airlines (Aardwolf) with further territories in negotiation.  

Dark Star is planning a theatrical summer 2024 with the film already having had a successful run at North American festivals including TIFF, The Hamptons, NewFest and Palm Springs. The film had its world premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival. 

A film of love, laughter and loss featuring the music of Neil Diamond, Janis Ian, Minnie Riperton and others. Present day, industrial north Wales. Helen spends her nights packing chickens and her days caring for dying mother-figure Gwen. Helen’s mundane world is turned upside down by the return of Joanne, an infatuation from her schooldays. The feeling is mutual, and as they fall in love, Helen’s zest for life returns – but Joanne feels the walls close in as she faces something darker from her past.

The film is produced by Anne Beresford, Adam Partridge, Andrew Gillman and Peggy Cafferty. The cast includes Louise Brealey (Such Brave Girls, Brian and Charles, Sherlock), Annabel Scholey (The Sixth Commandment, The Split, The Serial Killer’s Wife), Sorcha Cusack (Mrs Brown’s Boys), Celyn Jones (The Almond and the Seahorse) and Emily Fairn (The Responder).  

The film is funded by the BFI and Ffilm Cymru Wales, both awarding National Lottery funding, BBC Film and Moment Film Group and is produced by Artemisia Films in association with Delta Pictures.  

The Yellow Affair is representing a host of films achieving high accolades including Berlin Generation Kplus Jury Grand Prix winner Reinas directed by Klaudia Reynicke, Czech Oscar Contender and Czech Lion Best Feature Film Winner Brothers directed by Tomas Masin and The Rooster for which director Mark Leonard Winter won an Australian Directors’ Guild Award for Best Debut Feature and Hugo Weaving won Best Supporting Actor at the Australian Academy Awards.

Dark Star Pictures is a new-age North American distribution company, focused on bringing unique and targeted content to audiences across the country. Committed to releasing auteur-driven, original cinema in the theatrical, digital and home video space with a goal of creating original marketing campaigns directly catered to audiences who will embrace a brand of thought-provoking cinema.