Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Andy Garcia’s ‘Diamond’

Sony Pictures Classics have acquired worldwide rights to award-winning Cuban-American actor and filmmaker Andy Garcia’s crime drama “Diamond,” the company announced Thursday. Premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the film received a nine-minute standing ovation. Written, directed and produced by Garcia, “Diamond” is a contemporary noir with period sensibilities set in Los Angeles. The protagonist, Joe Diamond (Garcia), is a man out of time, an urban legend with an emotional traumatic past. He has the uncanny ability to solve crimes that even the LAPD cannot – armed only with the savvy and dry humor reminiscent of the gumshoe detectives of that genre. It is a love letter to Los Angeles and an homage to the great noir films of the past. Garcia also co-wrote the original score with his longtime collaborator Arturo Sandoval, both of whom are Grammy and Latin Grammy award winners. “I’ve been working on this story for close to 20 years,” Garcia said in a statement. “This is not unusual for personal films in the independent world. Stories take time to unfold. They haunt you, as you continue to work on them. When they are ready, in their own time, the movie gods open the window of opportunity. Perhaps we exhaust them with our persistence and that great obstacle is overcome by the dream. So they give up and bless you with this extraordinary cast to tell your story. Dreams sometimes do come true. As Joe Diamond the protagonist in our story states. ‘Dreams are a way of escaping your reality, unless those dreams are your reality.’” Sony Pictures Classics added: “One of those great Phillip Marlowe private eye crime mysteries of the past, full of surprises, filled with colorful, rich characters, played to the hilt by a stellar cast led by Andy Garcia, Vicki Krieps, Brendan Fraser, Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman. Director Andy Garcia’s years in the making labor of love is finally here. Audiences will love it.” A CineSon production (Garcia’s production company), the film was produced by Jai Stefan for Shrink Media, Frank Mancuso Jr. for FGM Entertainment and Paul Soriano from Black Cap Pictures/TEN17P. Black Cap Pictures/Nexis Entertainment financed the film and will serve as executive producers led by Simon Heo and Nikki Romero, with Soriano also serving as producer. Other EPs include John Ahn, Wendy Lee, and Nino Cuccinello. For Oscura Film, Marco Vicini and Fernando Tsai. The deal was negotiated between Sony Pictures Classics and CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers, with The Veterans overseeing international rights.