'Capital in the 21st Century' for French/NZ film adaptation

Best Selling Book
'Capital in the 21st Century'
to Get a Big Screen Adaptation

The international bestseller (over 3 million copies sold worldwide) Capital in the 21st Century written by Thomas Piketty, (Editions du Seuil) will be given a big screen adaptation as Matthew Metcalfe of General Film Corporation and Yann Le Prado of Upside today announce the project has entered into production.

A French-New Zealand co-production, the film will combine some of the best theatrical talent from both countries’ industries.

Based on the book by Thomas Piketty (Editions du Seuil) Capital in the 21st Century, explores one of the most important and controversial subjects of our time: wealth, and who gets a share of the dividends. With house prices in Auckland slipping further out of reach by the day and a billionaire occupying the White House the film’s themes and learnings couldn’t be more topical and Metcalfe is excited to bring this incredible book to life on the big screen.

Metcalfe says, “As soon as I picked up the book and started reading, I knew that this was a perfect story to be brought to the screen. Thomas Piketty’s seminal book could not be more relevant to today’s world and a generation for whom participation in the economy is ever further out of reach”.

“Some say that Thomas's book is that of a generation. With Matthew and our teams, we have the ambition to also make it the film of a generation. To bring Thomas's work to another, wider, younger, more connected, maybe more engaged audience”, Le Prado adds.

Capital in the 21st Century will present a thought-provoking and educational analysis of modern day capitalism by weaving stories from one source to the next, combining comments by compelling economic thinkers with visual clips, pop culture references and graphic animations, imploring viewers to reflect on the direction the world is travelling.

Fresh from directing his record-breaking box office performer, CHASING GREAT, Justin Pemberton will helm the picture with the participation of Thomas Piketty.

"Capital in the 21st Century will take us on an exhilarating journey, traveling over 400 hundred years of history as it charts the choppy course of wealth to reveal how we arrived where we are today – and then make an educated guess about what may lie ahead if we fail to act." Says Pemberton.

Capital in the 21st Century is the first project from Upside for a theatrical release.
It is the second project from General Film Corporation which will start production in 2017, with racing epic WAYNE also entering production in February. General Film Corporation's growing slate includes the major motion pictures BEYOND THE EDGE, DEAN SPANLEY, THE DEAD LANDS, GISELLE and due for release in 2017, 6 DAYS, THE FREE MAN and MCLAREN.

Capital in the 21st Century has investment from the New Zealand Film Commission, Ingenious Project Finance, Upside Distribution (who also handles international sales), Hercules, and Images and Sound. Diaphana, Canal Plus and France 3 have all come together for French-speaking territories while Transmission Films will distribute in Aust/NZ.

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