Eva Vitija’s “Loving Highsmith” Doc About the Author Behind “Carol” Goes to Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber

A doc about the trailblazing queer author behind the source material for “Carol” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley” is on the way. Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber have acquired North American rights to Eva Vitija’s portrait of Patricia Highsmith. The film, titled “Loving Highsmith,” will be released theatrically this September. Deadline broke the news. 

Described as a “unique look” at the life of the acclaimed American novelist, the doc focuses on Highsmith’s “quest for love and her troubled identity through her personal diaries and the intimate reflections of her lovers, friends, and family.” Shedding “new light on her life and writings,” “Loving Highsmith” revisits how the writer “was forced to lead a double life and had to hide her vibrant love affairs from her family and the public, reflecting on the ever-present subject only in her unpublished writings.”

A 2015 film adaptation of Highsmith’s “The Price of Salt,” “Carol,” saw Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara starring as secret lovers. The period drama garnered six Oscar nominations, including an adapted screenplay nod for Phyllis Nagy.

Highsmith’s “Strangers on a Train” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley” also served as inspiration for well-known films of the same name.

“Loving Highsmith,” which made its world premiere at Sydney Film Festival and will screen at Frameline Film Festival later this month, includes excerpts from Highsmith’s unpublished writing voiced by “Game of Thrones” actress Gwendoline Christie.

“We’ve been wondering when someone was going to make a truly great documentary about Patricia Highsmith, one of the most original, complex, disturbing, fascinating writers (and people) of the 20th century,” said Zeitgeist Co-Presidents Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo. “This is it and we can’t wait to bring it out in North America in September.”

Vitija emphasized that she hopes the film helps give Highsmith “the recognition in her home country that she has always deserved!”