Le Pacte has sold The Spiral (L’estranea), Paolo Strippoli’s horror-thriller and Italy’s entry for the international feature Oscar, to a North American distributor that has committed to a US theatrical release, The Hollywood Reporter reported on Wednesday 11 November. The Paris-based sales company has also closed deals with 16 other buyers, from Vertigo Releasing in the UK and Ireland to California Filmes in Latin America. The North American buyer has not been named and no prices were disclosed.
The deals come five weeks into the film’s Italian release, and it is still in the country’s daily top 10. For an Oscar submission that is an unusual combination: a festival profile built at Venice and Toronto, and evidence that it sells tickets at home.
Key facts
- Film: The Spiral (L’estranea), written and directed by Paolo Strippoli; 115 minutes, Italian-language, an Italy–France–Belgium co-production
- Seller: Le Pacte. North American buyer not yet named, with a commitment to a US theatrical release
- Other deals: 16 buyers, including Vertigo Releasing (UK and Ireland), MFA+ FilmDistribution (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and California Filmes (Latin America)
- Italy: €3.49m ($3.92m) from 480,748 admissions by 10 November, according to Cinetel
- Oscar: chosen by ANICA’s committee on 23 September; the Academy’s 15-film shortlist is due on 15 December
The buyers
Le Pacte told The Hollywood Reporter that the North American agreement could later be extended to further territories, and that the distributor will be named at a later date.
The European sales are broad. La Aventura Cine has Spain, Aurora Films Poland, Pris Audiovisuais Portugal, ABCinema Greece and Independenta Film Romania. MCF Megacom Film takes the Balkans, Bestfilm.eu the Baltic states and Beta Film Bulgaria. Further afield, Pancinema bought South Korea, Palace Films Australia and New Zealand, Bir Film Turkey, VR Films India and the SAARC region, and Russian Report Russia and the CIS.
Le Pacte is releasing the film itself in France, and Paradiso Filmed Entertainment has Benelux. Romain Rancurel heads sales at Le Pacte International, according to the film’s press kit.
The film
Jasmine Trinca plays Anna, who turns up at her daughter’s flat in Rome on a stormy night to confess that the family’s history rests on a pact she made with a mysterious Stranger, played by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, after an accident 20 years earlier nearly cost the girl her leg. Romana Maggiora Vergano plays the daughter and Adriano Giannini the father. Strippoli wrote the screenplay with Salvatore De Chirico. Reviewing it at Venice for The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney called it “juicy entertainment that ought to travel well”.
Propaganda Italia and Rai Cinema produced, in association with Dinamo Film, with Kazak Productions in France and Tarantula in Belgium as co-producers. The press kit credits Propaganda’s Marina Marzotto as executive producer; The Hollywood Reporter, and Rai Cinema chief executive Paolo Del Brocco in his statement on the Oscar selection, name Marzotto and Mattia Oddone as its producers.
Strippoli, born in 1993 in Corato, near Bari, trained at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. He co-directed the Netflix original A Classic Horror Story (2021) with Roberto De Feo, then made Flowing (2022) and The Holy Boy (2025), which played out of competition at Venice. The Spiral is his fourth feature.
The festival run and the Oscar race
The film premiered in competition at Venice in September and had its North American premiere in Toronto’s Midnight Madness section, where it was first runner-up for the Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award. At Sitges, Trinca won best actress and the film took the Silver Méliès; Chicago gave it a Silver Hugo for visual effects. It has also played Fantastic Fest, Busan and Thessaloniki.
ANICA’s selection committee chose it on 23 September from 21 Italian submissions, calling it “a new genre film by a young filmmaker who has only recently begun his career”, admired by audiences and critics in Italy and abroad. The Academy publishes its 15-film shortlist on 15 December and the nominations on 21 January 2027.
How it has played in Italy
01 Distribution opened the film on 8 October. By Tuesday 10 November, its 34th day on release, it had taken €3,493,406 from 480,748 admissions, according to Cinetel’s official figures, an average ticket of €7.27. At the European Central Bank’s 10 November rate that is $3.92m. Le Pacte’s own numbers, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter, are lower: $3.8m and “more than 460,000” admissions.
The run has slowed but held. On 10 November the film was ninth for the day with €16,220 from 2,981 admissions, in a chart led by the Italian release Se domani non torno.
What is not known
The North American buyer, the US release date and any minimum guarantees have not been disclosed, and none of the territory deals came with a price.
Our reading
For now the theatrical commitment is the only North American term on the record, and it matters more than it might for most foreign-language titles: a US cinema run gives the film a campaign platform before the shortlist vote in December. What sets The Spiral apart from most Oscar submissions is its Italian box office. Nearly half a million admissions for a genre film is proof that paying audiences, not only juries, will turn out for it, which is a stronger argument in a territory sale than any festival laurel.
It is the latest European Oscar entry to find a US home this month, after Norway’s Growth of the Soil and Denmark’s Venice Golden Lion winner Woman Unknown. The next markers are the buyer’s name and a release date, then the shortlist. At home it shares an unusually strong autumn for local titles with the documentary NAZA.
Sources
- The Hollywood Reporter, Italy’s Oscar entry The Spiral lands North American distribution, sells wide for Le Pacte (11 November 2026)
- Cinetel, Italian box office table to 10 November 2026 (L’estranea)
- Le Pacte, The Spiral film page and international press kit (credits, running time, sales contacts)
- Le Pacte, The Spiral international press kit (PDF)
- ANICA, L’estranea designated to represent Italy in the international feature category of the 99th Academy Awards (23 September 2026)
- Ministry of Culture, Directorate-General for Cinema, L’Estranea di Paolo Strippoli in lizza per la corsa agli Oscar (21 Italian submissions)
- LaPresse, Oscar 2027, L’Estranea è il film che rappresenterà l’Italia (23 September 2026; Rai Cinema statement naming producers Marina Marzotto and Mattia Oddone)
- European Central Bank, euro reference rates (10 November 2026, USD 1.1214)