"THE 40-YEAR-OLD VERSION" ACQUIRED BY NETFLIX

Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to Radha Blank's The 40-Year-Old Version

Writer and Director: Radha Blank

Cast: Radha Blank, Peter Y. Kim, Oswin Benjamin, Reed Birney, Imani Lewis, TJ Atoms

Producers: Lena Waithe, Jordan Fudge, Radha Blank, Inuka Bacote-Capiga, Jennifer Semler, Rishi Rajani

Synopsis: Nearing 40 and still struggling as a playwright, frustrated New Yorker Radha turns to a different kind of stage, awakening a rapper alter-ego named RadhaMUSprime. As her revitalized artistic voice blossoms, Radha must learn to juggle her two personas - and two unique New York art scenes. In her debut feature, writer-director Radha Blank plays the deeply personal lead role, a magnetic presence with a unique perspective, creating a film that is a fresh addition to the New York City slice-of-life canon.

This marks Blank's feature film directorial debut

The 40-Year-Old Version will be in theaters and on Netflix later this year

This past weekend The Sundance Film Festival Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to Radha Blank for The 40-Year-Old Version

QUOTE FROM RADHA BLANK: "It took years of trying to get this film made. It's my love letter to NY and its struggling artists as well as the NY artistic institutions that raised me - Hip Hop and Theater. I made this film in the spirit of the great NY auteurs who came before me but from an angle not often seen. I'm so very proud of the artisans, many from New York, who helped me craft this movie with such loving and capable hands. As a new member of the Netflix family, I'm excited about the global audience that this film will reach. I hope it will spark the next generation of fearless filmmakers in ANY part of the world. I'm thrilled that this came together with Netflix."

About Radha Blank

Radha Blank (Writer/Director/"Radha") is a performer, writer, and proud native New Yorker. A Helen Merrill Award recipient, Radha's acclaimed play SEED was deemed "fresh, lively...and poetic" by HuffPost. She's since written for Empire (Fox) and She's Gotta Have It (Netflix). Radha's script for The 40-Year-Old Version was chosen for the 2017 Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs and garnered the 2017 Adrienne Shelly Women's Filmmaker Award and the 2018 Maryland Film Festival Producers Club Award. When not writing for the stage and screen, Radha performs as RadhaMUSprime, whose brand of hip-hop comedy has sold out shows from New York to Norway. Variety just named her one of "10 Directors to Watch for 2020." The 40-Year-Old Version marks Radha's feature film directing debut.