Magnolia acquires rights to 'Control Room'

LOS ANGELES, March 26 (UPI) -- Magnolia Pictures has acquired domestic rights to "Control Room," a behind-the-scenes look at the al-Jazeera network's coverage of the recent Iraq war.

Magnolia will open the documentary in New York in mid-May followed by a nationwide release, Screen Daily said Thursday.

Jehane Noujaim's "Control Room" premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

"Over and above the obvious timeliness of the film, Control Room is just great film-making," Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles said in a statement. "The filmmakers' clear-eyed handling of such complex, incendiary material is absolutely bracing and transcendent."

"Given Magnolia's success with 'Capturing the Friedmans,' a film which deals with similar questions of truth, journalism, and the media, Magnolia seemed liked a natural home for 'Control Room,'" Noujaim added.