At the Toronto International Film Festival, Precious Metal Productions and Black Fawn Distribution said they are joining forces on a three-picture genre slate. The first project is a horror film directed by Christopher Giroux from an original screenplay he co-wrote with Ann Pirvu, with production set for early 2027.
The structure
The deal pairs Precious Metal, the production banner Giroux and Pirvu launched in January 2026, with Black Fawn Distribution, the distribution arm of Black Fawn Films. It gives each side something specific: Precious Metal gets a committed genre distribution partner, while Black Fawn locks in a pipeline of new Canadian titles.
The players
Giroux’s recent credits include television movies such as Snowbound for the Holidays for Hallmark and Bee My Love. He has also produced a string of horror features, including Anything for Jackson, Bite, The Heretics, I’ll Take Your Dead and The Voices of Our Mother. Pirvu is an actress-producer known for The CW’s Reign and Poly Is the New Monogamy.
Black Fawn Distribution carries a platform-wide Canadian distribution footprint and a growing acquisitions list that includes Bury The Devil, Death of a Yellowbird, It Feeds and Violence. In 2025 the company entered international sales with The Undertone, which sold to A24 following a bidding war.
What leadership is signalling
“We’ve always believed that Canadian filmmakers can create commercially viable films without compromising creative ambition,” Giroux said.
CF Benner, SVP Finance Operations at Black Fawn Distribution, pointed to the team’s proven track record and audience engagement as deciding factors. Pirvu described the slate as a commitment to “meaningful, commercially accessible stories while championing Canadian talent on both sides of the camera.”
Why the deal matters
Three-picture slate deals are a useful indicator of where independent genre supply will come from over the next two years. For streamers, platforms and international distributors, Canadian genre offers a developed crew base, production incentives and a record of crossing borders.
- First title is a horror feature directed by Giroux and co-written with Pirvu.
- Production is expected to start in early 2027.
- Black Fawn handles Canadian distribution and has international sales momentum after The Undertone’s A24 sale.
- The agreement is a multi-title commitment, not a one-off pickup.
Horror and genre titles also tend to travel well across VOD, streaming and physical windows. A distributor that can plan several quarters of supply, while a producer secures market access early, reduces some of the uncertainty that usually surrounds independent film.
The announcement does not specify the other two projects. The early 2027 start date, however, gives buyers a clear first marker for when the slate will begin arriving in the market. For programming, acquisition and marketing teams, the deal is another signal that genre supply continues to consolidate into pre-committed slates rather than one-off acquisitions.
The watch point for ScreenStat readers is whether these titles move through Canadian distribution first or are packaged for global buyers early. If The Undertone is the template, international interest could surface well before production wraps.
Source: Deadline
