GRAVITAS VENTURES ACQUIRES INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS TO MARTHA MCGRATH'S HIP HOP DRAMA FAMOUS FEATURING THE MUSIC OF RAPPER FRIYIE

TORONTO, May 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Gravitas Ventures, an Anthem Sports & Entertainment Company, has acquired Worldwide rights to award-winning filmmaker Martha McGrath's directorial debut FAMOUS. The powerful and poignant film stars Brendan Jeffers ("Degrassi: The Next Generation") and Brian Bisson ("Clarice"), as interracial brothers in the music business who are opposites at life, love and sobriety. The film features the music of Toronto rapper Friyie. FAMOUS was written, directed and produced by Martha McGrath, whose debut short featured the hip hop and R&B sounds of another Toronto artist: Leila Dey.

"My foray into music-laden films was all an accident," says McGrath, who was impressed by Dey's audition for the lead in her debut short film, not realizing she was also a talented singer. Dey's music infused the short film Sweetheart with a potency and relevance, contributing to its selection in international festivals, winning 4 awards. 

"Around this time, I began thinking more and more of this story of brothers in the music business, having 4 brothers myself, who have been in and out of business with each other," said McGrath. This theme of brothers would ultimately yield the debut feature's powerful hip hop soundtrack. "One of the film's actors, Sam Asante, overheard me being teased about the turndowns I'd had from some rather notable rappers regarding their music being on the soundtrack," recalled McGrath. "And Sam offered to connect me with the brother of Toronto rapper Friyie."

The film includes Friyie's international hit, "Money Team," which became Floyd Mayweather's theme song, in addition to new music Friyie created for the film about brothers.

FAMOUS is a Street Relief Productions production, produced by Martha McGrath. Brendan Jeffers, Brian Bisson, Glenn Morley and Friyie served as executive producers.

FAMOUS will be released on May 9^th on Apple TV, Prime and VOD. Gravitas Ventures is handling international sales of the film.

Interracial brothers in the music business are opposites at life, love and sobriety. Music artist Famous struggles with addiction while his seemingly perfect stepbrother and producer, Plain Wayne, is adored by the media for being his savior. Yet away from the cameras, Plain Wayne may be the one responsible for Famous' many relapses, wanting to keep Famous under his control. As Famous gets a new chance at life and love, he begins to see the truth about his brother. The film was shot in Toronto and New York.

McGrath is a queer American-Canadian writer, director and producer who founded Street Relief Co-op, a collective of over 3,000 filmmakers, making shorts with proceeds benefitting local causes. Street Relief Productions is the feature arm of the co-op.

Street Relief Productions is based in Toronto, ON, making films exploring relevant social themes with a comedy edge.

Gravitas  Ventures is  a  leading  all  rights  distributor  of independent  feature  films  and  documentaries.  Founded in 2006, Gravitas connects independent filmmakers and producers with distribution opportunities across the globe. Working with talented directors  and  producers,  Gravitas  Ventures  has  distributed thousands of films into over a hundred million homes in North America - over one billion homes worldwide. Their recent wide theatrical release 'Mack & Rita' starring Academy Award Winner Diane Keaton released on August 12th under the new label Gravitas Premiere.  Recent Gravitas Venture releases include The King's Daughter directed by Sean McNamara, Queen Bees directed by Michael Lembeck, Our Friend directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, starring Casey Affleck, Dakota Johnson, and Jason Segel, Vanguard, directed by Stanley Tong and starring Jackie Chan, The Secret: Dare to Dream, directed by Andy Tennant and starring Katie Holmes; For more information, please visit www.gravitasventures.com, and follow @GravitasVOD on Twitter and @gravitasventures on Instagram.

Anthem Sports & Entertainment Inc. is a global multi-platform media company with offices and studios in Los Angeles, Denver, Nashville, New York, Kansas City, Cleveland and Toronto. Anthem's portfolio includes AXS TV, a leading music, entertainment and lifestyle television channel and digital media company; global film distribution company Gravitas Ventures; Fight Network, the world's premier combat sports channel; IMPACT Wrestling, one of the world's leading wrestling organizations specializing in original programming and live events; Invicta Fighting Championships, the world's premier all-women mixed martial arts promotion;  Game+, the leader in Esports and gaming content; GameTV, the home of game shows and competition-based reality series; and HDNet Movies, which features theatrically released films and documentaries. Anthem also has a significant ownership interest in Pursuit Channel, one of the top outdoor channels in the U.S.

For more information, go to: http://www.thefilmfamous.com/

To view the trailer, go to: https://vimeo.com/793713259

For materials, go to: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1r77XnGQp87zb9RMPgcmPE3hYFCtlYWOw?usp=sharing 

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SOURCE Street Relief Productions