CANNES -- (SPW) --

Production company Union Entertainment Group (UEG) and Heart of Darkness Pictures have partnered with the newly formed studio Witchcraft Motion Picture Company on a new southern-soaked dramatic thriller, BLOOD FOR DUST, with director Rod Blackhurst (AMANDA KNOX, HERE ALONE) attached. International Film Trust (IFT) will handle international sales and financing at the 2019 Cannes Film Market. Noah C Haeussner will produce for UEG/Heart of Darkness alongside Witchcraft Motion Picture Company's Noah Lang, with Union’s Michael Raimondi (HERE ARE THE YOUNG MEN, ARCTIC) serving as Executive Producer.

Written by David Ebeltoft (HERE ALONE, upcoming ROOT LETTER), BLOOD FOR DUST is set in the early 90s and follows a traveling salesman drowning in the myth of the American dream who finds himself on a desperate mission after reconnecting with an old colleague.

Haeussner made a panel appearance on Saturday, May 18, 2019, at the American Pavilion at this year’s Festival de Cannes. Titled INDUSTRY IN FOCUS: THE GOLDEN AGE OF DOCUMENTARIES, the panel explored the current landscape and what the future holds for nonfiction storytelling. Haeussner appeared on multiple Cannes panels in 2018, when he attended with ARCTIC, which premiered as part of the Midnight Screening section. That film, which Haeussner produced, stars Mads Mikkelsen, and was released domestically by Bleecker Street, receiving praise in Rolling Stone ((“an ice-cold killer of a movie”), the LA Times (“an effective nail-biter”), and more.

Haeussner is currently in post-production on HERE ARE THE YOUNG MEN, starring Dean Charles Chapman, Finn Cole, Anya Taylor-Joy and Travis Fimmel, which is being sold at this year’s Cannes market. Lang recently produced RED, WHITE & WASTED, which world premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, as well as THE CLIMB, which is having its world premiere at this year’s Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. Blackhurst is known for the Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award winner HERE ALONE, as well as the Emmy Nominated Netflix original documentary AMANDA KNOX. Blackhurst is also currently in pre-production on THE WHITE ROOM for Amblin Partners. IFT, who is handling international pre-sales, will also be in Cannes premiering TO THE STARS, fresh from its competition debut at Sundance.

The filmmakers will begin casting with a spring 2020 start date targeted. Blackhurst is repped by The Gotham Group and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, while Ebeltoft is represented by Dobre Films. Ramo Law represents Union Entertainment Group and Heart of Darkness Pictures.

About UNION ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
Union Entertainment Group (UEG) is a production and film financing company that develops and produces film, TV and digital properties with major production companies within the entertainment industry. Since its creation in late 2010, UEG has been an active partner on such films as HELLO I MUST BE GOING, EVERY SECRET RISE OF THADLAND, X/Y, NIGHTINGALE, JANIS: LITTLE GIRL BLUE, and AFTERMATH. UEG have worked and partnered with companies that include HBO, Warner Brothers, Magnolia Pictures and Anonymous Content. In 2015, UEG purchased ownership of the NY-based independent production company Killer Films. The parent company for UEG, Union Editorial, is one of the industry’s leading creative post production companies, with offices located in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, and London, where it maintains an alliance with Marshall Street Editors.

About WITCHCRAFT MOTION PICTURE COMPANY
Witchcraft Motion Picture Company is a tastemaker label that develops and produces elevated genre fare with an emphasis on craft and overlooked talent. Alongside frequent collaborator screenwriter Bryce McGuire, the company incubated the treatment and subsequent screenplay for THE WHITE ROOM which made the 2018 Blood List and was developed with The Picture Company and ACE Content before being acquired by Amblin Partners. Witchcraft are also currently developing the sci-fi adventure THE MACHINE STOPS with Realization Films.

About INTERNATIONAL FILM TRUST
International Film Trust (IFT) is an international sales and distribution company operated by producers for producers with over 20 years of experience in producing, finance, international sales and distribution.

IFT’s 2019 Cannes slate includes TO THE STARS, mystery-thriller THE BAY OF SILENCE starring Danish sensation Claes Bang (BBC/Netflix’s DRACULA, Palme d’Or winner THE SQUARE), Olga Kurylenko (JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN) and Brian Cox (CHURCHILL), directed by Foreign-language Academy Award® nominee Paula van der Oest; dramedy ENTANGLEMENT with Thomas Middleditch (HBO’S SILICON VALLEY), Jess Weixler (THE GOOD WIFE), and Diana Bang (BATES MOTEL); family rom-com, I HATE KIDS, starring Tom Everett Scott (LA LA LAND), Tituss Burgess (UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT), Rhea Seehorn (BETTER CALL SAUL), Rachel Boston (500 DAYS OF SUMMER) and newcomer Julian Feder; coming-of-age story AND THEN I GO starring Arman Darbo, Sawyer Barth, Justin Long (LITERALLY, RIGHT BEFORE AARON), Melanie Lynskey (THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER), and Tony Hale (HBO’s VEEP, AMERICAN ULTRA, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT).