A24 and DirecTV have acquired U.S. from HanWay Films to John Maclean's directorial debut Slow West, which is world premiering at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Set at the end of the 19thCentury, Slow West follows 16-year-old Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as he journeys across the American frontier in search of the woman he loves, accompanied by Silas (Michael Fassbender), a mysterious traveler. They're also being pursued by an outlaw (Ben Mendelsohn).

It's the third time Fassbender and Maclean have worked together following the latter's shorts Man On A Motorcycle and the 2012 BAFTA-winning Pitch Black Heist. Slow West marks another partnership between A24 and DirecTV with their previous titles including Denis Villeneuve's Enemy starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jeff Baena's directorial debut Life After Beth starring Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan, and Atom Egoyan’s The Captive.

Slow West is produced by Conor McCaughan of DMC Film, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films, and Rachel Gardner of Rachel Gardner Films. Film is the first title to be produced by Fassbender and Conor McCaughan's production label DMC Film. Slow West was developed by Film4 and co-financed by Film4, the BFI, the New Zealand Film Commission and Fulcrum Media Finance. HanWay Films is handling global sales.