Adler & Associates Lands Rights to AI Drama 'The Zebras'
SkimNews Take
The Zebras' global distribution, despite its niche theme and origin, highlights the expanding appetite for non-Western narratives and the potential for AI-related content to transcend regional markets.
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- Adler & Associates Entertainment secured worldwide distribution rights to Indian independent feature The Zebras, handling international sales outside North America across curated theatrical circuits, streaming services, and institutional screenings.
- The film, directed by Kolkata-based filmmaker Aneek Chaudhuri, is set in a near-future Kolkata where AI replaces real human creativity and follows a celebrated photographer who uses AI-generated images and fake online horror content to gain fame.
- Sumehra, a struggling model whose career is collapsing because of AI, is forced into the same cycle of manipulation and illusion to survive, mirroring the photographer's path.
- The Zebras premiered at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne in 2024 and was later released in Los Angeles by Double Exposure, which handles North American distribution.
- The cast is headed by Sharib Hashmi (The Family Man), Priyanka Sarkar, and Usha Banerjee, with production by India's Yulin Productions.
- Director Aneek Chaudhuri said the film was 'always intended to travel beyond geographical and linguistic barriers,' framing the deal as a natural next step for the project.
Why it matters: The deal gives a Kolkata-set indie film about AI's corrosive effect on art and labor a path to international audiences outside North America, expanding the commercial reach of a project that already played Melbourne and Los Angeles. For Adler & Associates, it adds a topical AI-themed foreign-language title to its curated theatrical and institutional pipeline, while for Chaudhuri it validates the international-travel ambition he cited in announcing the deal.
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