Press Releases

New York (March 16, 2022) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today they have acquired worldwide rights to the documentary THE RETURN OF TANYA TUCKER – FEATURING BRANDI CARLILE. The film had its world premiere out of South by Southwest earlier this week. 

The film is directed by Kathlyn Horan (THE IF PROJECT), whose TinFish Films produced alongside Motto Pictures’ Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, and Carolyn Hepburn (THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, IN THE SAME BREATH, THE MOLE AGENT), in association with Impact Partners and Artemis Rising. Executive Producers are Lynn Hubbard & David Zapolsky, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, The Wadsworth Family, Regina K. Scully, Adam & Melony Lewis, InMaat Productions and Brandi Carlile. 

Trailblazing, hell-raising country music legend Tanya Tucker defied the standards of how a woman in country music was supposed to behave. Decades after Tanya slipped from the spotlight, six-time Grammy^® Award-winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile takes it upon herself to write an entire album for her hero based on Tanya’s extraordinary life, spurring the greatest comeback in country music history. Taking stock of the past while remaining vitally alive in the present and keeping an eye on the future, THE RETURN OF TANYA TUCKER – FEATURING BRANDI CARLILE is a rousing exploration of an unexpected friendship built on the joy of a perfectly timed creative collaboration.

“THE RETURN OF TANYA TUCKER shows the birth of a major filmmaker in Kathlyn Horan featuring a close personal look at Tanya Tucker through incredible creative and personal engagement with Brandi Carlile and her many collaborators. One of the great movies about music creation and inspiration. We are so excited to be involved with a movie that we know will move and energize audiences everywhere,” said Sony Pictures Classics.

Said Horan, "I am honored to be part of the Sony Pictures Classics family. I've always admired the caliber of their films. I know they'll be the most passionate partners in bringing THE RETURN OF TANYA TUCKER-FEATURING BRANDI CARLILE to audiences. One of the most exciting aspects of this project is the coming together of these two different worlds of Country & Americana music. Both Tanya and Brandi are changemakers in different ways, and the strength they represent and joy they bring is something we are ecstatic to be able to capture with this film."

“It’s so surreal to see my life captured moment by moment during the recording process with Brandi, as well as some footage that I haven’t seen in decades!” added Tucker. “Sony Pictures Classics is the perfect partner and I can’t wait for the world to see this masterpiece Kathlyn and her team captured!”

Stated Carlile, “I’m over the moon that this special documentary has found such a perfect home with Sony Pictures Classics. I don’t think there’s a more fascinating human being on the planet than Tanya Tucker. I can’t wait for the world to fall In love with this legend all over again.”

The deal was negotiated with Submarine.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES CLASSICS   
Michael Barker and Tom Bernard serve as co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics—an autonomous division of Sony Pictures Entertainment they founded with Marcie Bloom in January 1992—which distributes, produces, and acquires independent films from around the world.  Barker and Bernard have released prestigious films that have won 41 Academy Awards^® (37 of those at Sony Pictures Classics) and have garnered 183 Academy Award^® nominations (157 at Sony Pictures Classics) including Best Picture nominations for THE FATHER, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, WHIPLASH, AMOUR, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, AN EDUCATION, CAPOTE, HOWARDS END, AND CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.  

ABOUT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT  
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition, and distribution; television production, acquisition, and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. SPE’s Motion Picture Group production organizations include Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, 3000 Pictures, Stage 6 Films, AFFIRM Films, and Sony Pictures Classics. For additional information, visit http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/divisions.html.