Those who couldn't make it to Cannes this year will have a chance to see Michel Gondry's documentary The Thorn in the Heart (L'Epine dans le Coeur) thanks to Oscilloscope Laboratories, which has acquired North American distribution rights to the film.

The Thorn in the Heart is a personal look at the life of Gondry family matriarch, his aunt Suzette Gondry, and her relationship with her son, Jean-Yves. Gondry examines Suzette’s years as a school teacher and her life in ruralFrance. During the course of filming the documentary, he unearths new family stories and uses his camera to explore them in a subtle and sensitive way

Gondry said in a statement, “So I called up my best friend Etienne and told him, ‘Guess who’s distributing my documentary about my aunt?’ and he said, ‘who?’ and I said, ‘MCA from Beastie Boys’ and Etienne said, ‘The Beastie Boy bought your Aunt's documentary?! Get the f*** out of here!’ and I said, ‘Yeah!!!’”

The film was produced and financed by Partizan Films. Oscilloscope, which was founded by Adam Yauch aka MCA, will open the film in theaters, with a DVD and digital release to follow.

FOR MORE:
-ScreenDaily's review written by Lee Marshall
-Variety's capsule review written by Justin Chang
-Hollywood Reporter review written by Duane Byrge
-Documentary.org's write up about docs at Cannes 2009