Best Friend Forever has boarded international sales on Eugene Kotlyarenko’s “Vintage Violence,” starring Cole Sprouse (“Riverdale”) and Kiko Mizuhara, ahead of the film’s world premiere at Toronto’s Midnight Madness section.
WME is handling domestic rights on the thriller, which marks Kotlyarenko’s eighth feature. The filmmaker is known for weaving internet and online-video culture into contemporary stories, most notably with “Spree,” which premiered at Sundance in 2020 and later reached Netflix’s Top 10, and “The Code,” which played at Fantasia in 2024.
“Vintage Violence” also stars Nijiro Murakami (“Alice in Borderland”), Pierre Taki (“Like Father Like Son”) and Hio Miyazawa (“Egoist”). Mizuhara, who leads the cast with Sprouse, will also appear in Takashi Miike’s untitled Kyoto film.
The film follows a livestreamer who discovers a hidden cache of rare vintage denim in Colorado. After a subscriber lures him to Japan with the promise of a fortune for the jeans, he becomes embroiled in a dangerous turf war with the Yakuza.
The key crew includes Sean Price Williams, the topnotch cinematographer of “Good Time,” “The Sweet East” and “The Moment,” among others.
“‘Vintage Violence’ was made with lots of enthusiasm and cinephilia from everyone involved, so it’s great to work with Best Friend Forever, a company brimming with both those qualities,” said Kotlyarenko said. “Most importantly, we have the same goal in mind: for audiences all over the world to get rocked by this movie.”
The film reteams Kotlyarenko with producers Alex Hughes and Riccardo Maddalosso of Spacemaker Productions, which also backed ’s “Spree” and “The Code.” The company’s credits also include James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” and Sebastián Silva’s “Rotting in the Sun,” among others. Japan’s Barravento, whose credits include “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle,” and Mam Film, behind “Love Life,” are co-producing.
“We’re huge fans of Eugene’s cinema and the unique way he turns our hyper-connected moment into a playful, fresh cinematic language,” said Best Friend Forever co-founders Martin Gondre and Charles Bin. “‘Vintage Violence’ feels like an exciting new step – a funny, romantic and irreverent thriller, made with a freedom of style that recalls Takashi Miike,” they continued.
“Vintage Violence” joins Best Friend Forever’s fall 2026 slate, which also includes the Toronto titles “Half” and Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner “Elephants in the Fog.”
