Sony buys rights to Israeli director Joseph Cedar's new movie

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American distribution rights to Israeli director Joseph Cedar's film "Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer."

Richard Gere stars in the drama-comedy as Norman Oppenheimer, a man who lives a lonely life in the shadow of power and money, who unwittingly becomes involved in Israeli politics. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Michael Sheen, Steve Buscemi, Hank Azaria, and Israeli actor Lior Ashkenazi also star in the film.

Oren Moverman, Gideon Tadmor, Eyal Rimmon, David Mandil, Miranda Bailey and Lawrence Inglee produced the film, which was financed in association with the Rabinovich Foundation, The Jerusalem Film Fund and Keshet International.

"Over the past 20 years, so many of the significant and memorable films I’ve seen came out through the unique combination of expertise and passion that is Sony Pictures Classics. I feel extremely fortunate to be in this company again and happy that 'Norman' will be adorned with the SPC logo," Cedar said Monday.

SPC already had a relationship with Cedar, as the company acquired his last film, "Footnote," out of the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, where it won the Best Screenplay Award and then received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Cedar’s film "Beaufort," about the final days of Israel's military presence in southern Lebanon, was also nominated for an Academy Award in the same category in 2008.