Bleecker Street Buys ‘Relay,’ Thriller Starring Riz Ahmed, Lily James and Sam Worthington

Bleecker Street has acquired U.S. rights to “Relay” following the twisty thriller’s debut at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

The film was directed by David MacKenzie, who oversaw the Oscar-nominated “Hell or High Water,” and stars Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”) and Sam Worthington (“Avatar”). Bleecker Street is planning to release the film in theaters next year.

“Relay” puts a new spin on the kind of paranoid loner films like “The Conversation” and “The Parallax View” that populated ’70s cinema. In it, Ahmed plays a “fixer” who specializes in brokering payoffs between businesses and employees who have secrets (documents, etc.) about corporate malfeasance that could ruin companies. Because of the nature of his work, he keeps his identity a secret through meticulous planning, but his guard drops ever so slightly when he takes on a new client (Lily James) who needs his protection to stay alive.

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Justin Piasecki wrote the screenplay for the film. Black Bear fully financed “Relay” and produced alongside Thunder Road Pictures and Sigma Films. Producers include Basil Iwanyk for Thunder Road, Gillian Berrie for Sigma, Teddy Schwarzman for Black Bear, and MacKenzie. Executive producers are Black Bear’s Michael Heimler and John Friedberg, and Thunder Road’s Erica Lee and Charlie Morrison.

The deal was negotiated by Bleecker Street’s Kent Sanderson and Avy Eschenasy with UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance representing the filmmakers. Black Bear is handling the sale of the international rights to the film.

Bleecker Street recently acquired the North American rights to Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s “The Friend” starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray. The company’s upcoming release slate includes “The Return,” starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, and “Hard Truths,” which reunites filmmaker Mike Leigh with his “Secrets & Lies” star Marianne Jean-Baptiste