I was chatting with a Fox Searchlight publicist at last night’s LA Film Festival finale party outside the Wadsworth, and for a while the subject was Stephen Walker‘s sad/funny/soulful Young@Heart, that doc I wrote about last week about a Massachucetts-based octugenarian singing group performing various rock tunes.
I shared my view that Young@Heart is an almost-certain lock to win be nominated for a Best Feature Documentary Oscar, but apparently that’s a no-go due to the doc having played last year on British TV. Thanks to A.J. Schnack for pointing this out in a 6.30 posting on edendale.typepad.
I also told the Fox Searchlight publicist that I’d been told that an indie-level distributor had picked it up a few hours earlier for theatrical distribution. She smiled and expressed general interest but added nothing to the discussion. This morning Variety‘s Anne Thompson reported that Fox Searchlight is the company that made the deal.
I was told last night that Young@Heart will be released sometime between Labor Day and year’s end. In order to Oscar-qualify it would have to play for a week with twice-daily shows before the end of August, but again — last year’s British TV airing apparently disqualifies it.
The L.A. Film Festival award for best international feature, announced last night at the Wadsworth before a screening of Danny Boyle‘s Sunshine, went to Young@Heart. Focus Features has reportedly picked up the remake rights. I couldn’t find the trade story this morning, so I called Focus to see if they could help. That was two and a half hours ago.

who.