‘Ginger & Rosa’ lands with new distributor A24

Fresh from its screenings at film festivals in Telluride and Toronto and ahead of its upcoming appearance at the New York Film Festival, “Ginger & Rosa” has been picked up for distribution by the new company A24. The latest from British filmmaker Sally Potter, “Ginger & Rosa” will be released for awards consideration by the end of the year with a theatrical release in early 2013.

A semi-autobiographical story that powerfully sets the coming-of-age of two young girls against the English anti-nuclear protest movement of the early 1960s, the film stars Elle Fanning and newcomer Alice Englert (daughter of director Jane Campion) as the two characters of the film’s title. The supporting cast includes “Mad Men” star Christina Hendricks as Fanning’s mother, as well as Alessandro Nivola, Annette Bening, Timothy Spall and Oliver Platt.

In a review in the Hollywood Reporter, critic Todd McCarthy singled out Fanning as “simply extraordinary.” Following the film’s first public screening during the Toronto International Film Festival, Fanning took to the stage with Potter and other cast members for a Q&A.; Noting she had just seen the finished film for the first time, the 14-year-old star burst into tears, saying: “I’m really overwhelmed.”

In a statement, Potter said of the partnership with the New York-based A24, “I am very excited to join forces with this new, dynamic company whose passion for movies, focused energy and bold imagination make it the ideal home for ‘Ginger & Rosa.’ ”

It had been previously announced that the company’s first acquisition was Roman Coppola’s “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charlie Swan,” starring Charlie Sheen, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman.

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