Greenwich Entertainment announced today the acquisition of North American distribution rights to Try Harder! directed by Debbie Lum (Seeking Asian Female). The ITVS and XTR production premiered to glowing reviews at Sundance with Indiewire raving the film “is impossible to resist.” Greenwich will release Try Harder! this fall on December 3 during the college application season.
At Lowell High School, the top public high school in San Francisco, the seniors are stressed out. As they prepare for the emotionally draining college application process, students are keenly aware of the intense competition for the few open spots in their dream colleges. At Lowell—where cool kids are nerds, nearly everyone has an amazing talent, and most of the student body is Asian American—the things that usually make a person stand out can feel commonplace. With humor and heart, director Debbie Lum captures the reality of the American college application process and the intersection of class, race, and educational opportunity as young adults navigate a quintessential rite of passage.
“I’m super excited to work with the Greenwich team,” said director Debbie Lum. “They saw how important this story is for anyone who dreams of going to college or has kids dreaming of going to college. We’re thrilled they will help us get our film to as wide an audience as possible during the college admissions season because students everywhere need to talk about hopes and dreams — and the pressures that impact them.”
Try Harder! was produced by Debbie Lum, Nico Opper and Lou Nakasako with executive producers Jean Tsien, Lois Vossen, Sally Jo Fifer, Tony Hsieh, Kathryn Everett, Bryn Mooser, Naja Pham Lockwood, Yun-Fang Juan, Tracy Chou and Geralyn Dreyfous. Greenwich’s Andy Bohn negotiated the deal with Submarine’s Josh Braun and Matt Burke representing the filmmakers.
About Greenwich Entertainment
Founded in 2017, Greenwich Entertainment is an independent film distribution company specializing in distinctive, theatrical-quality narrative and documentary features. In 2018, Greenwich handled the record setting theatrical release of Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi’s Academy Award-Winning Documentary Free Solo, which grossed over $17M at the North American box office. In 2019, Greenwich released two of top the documentary hits of the year with Andrew Slater’s Echo in the Canyon ($3.4M) and Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice ($4.3M) from Oscar winners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Recent narrative releases include Isabel Coixet’s The Bookshop starring Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy and Madeleine Olnek’s Wild Nights with Emily starring Molly Shannon. Upcoming releases include Ebs Burnough’s The Capote Tapes and Maya Sarfaty’s Love It Was Not. Greenwich is led by an experienced management team that has overseen more than 150 theatrical releases generating over $100 million at the US box office and garnering 8 Academy Award Nominations and 2 Oscar Wins. www.GreenwichEntertainment.com
