Greenwich Entertainment has taken North American rights to dark comedy-drama “Concerned Citizen,” which had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale. Salzgeber has taken the rights for Germany and Austria. Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal is selling the film.

Idan Haguel’s film, a satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within, centers on Ben, who thinks of himself as a liberal and enlightened gay man, living in the perfect apartment with his boyfriend Raz. All that’s missing to complete the picture is a baby, which the couple are trying to make a reality.

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Meanwhile, Ben decides to improve his up-and-coming neighborhood in gritty south Tel Aviv by planting a new tree on his street. But his good deed soon triggers a sequence of events that leads to the brutal police arrest of an Eritrean immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues will fundamentally challenge Ben’s vision of himself and his society, in the process threatening to destroy his relationship and aspirations of fatherhood.

Edward Arentz, co-managing director of Greenwich, said: “We’re excited to introduce Idan Haguel’s sly, smart and highly relatable dark comedy of gentrification and the everyday hypocrisies of inequity to North American audiences. It might be set in Tel Aviv but could be about any number of ’emerging’ neighborhoods in cities across the world.”

Salzgeber’s Björn Koll said: “We are more than happy to welcome ‘Concerned Citizen’ in our program, a wonderfully crafted, multi-layered satire about privileges, xenophobia and identity. Idan Haguel for sure is an exciting new voice in Israeli cinema.”

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Greenwich plans a festival play for the film for the balance of 2022 and early 2023, followed by a Q2 2023 theatrical window, and subsequent home entertainment release.

Salzgeber plans festival play for the film for the rest of this year, and a theatrical release at the end of 2022 or early 2023.

Greenwich’s past releases include “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” from Oscar-winners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman; Andrew Slater’s “Echo in the Canyon”; Isabel Coixet’s “The Bookshop,” starring Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy; and Madeleine Olnek’s Spirit Award nominee “Wild Nights with Emily,” starring Molly Shannon.

Salzgeber’s releases include Eva Vitija’s “Loving Highsmith,” Zaida Bergroth’s “Tove,” Sergei Loznitsa’s “Donbass,” Lutz Pehnert’s “Bettina,” Francis Lee’s “God’s Own Country,” Robin Campillo’s “120 BPM,” Levan Akin’s “And Then We Danced” and Raoul Peck’s “I Am Not Your Negro.”

“Concerned Citizen” stars Shlomi Bertonov and Ariel Wolf. It is produced by Haguel alongside Gil Sima, Binyamin Gurevitch and Itay Akirav. It is supported by the Rabinovitch Film Fund.

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