Sony Pictures Classics has acquired U.S. and key international rights to The Julia Set, the directorial debut from Niki Byrne, starring Chase Infiniti. The deal follows the film’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, where it marked Infiniti’s follow-up to the multi-Oscar-winning One Battle After Another. The film currently sits at 70% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Infiniti plays Julia Fischer, a math prodigy recruited into an elite prep course culminating in one of the most demanding exams in mathematics, while also navigating a relationship with her teaching assistant Pascal, played by Christopher Briney. As Pascal struggles under his father Aleksander’s overbearing expectations, played by Jason Isaacs, it’s Pascal’s mother Anne, played by Gillian Anderson, who helps Julia recognize and act on a pivotal opportunity that shapes her future. Sony Pictures Classics acquires rights across the U.S., Benelux, Switzerland, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, the UK, Eastern Europe excluding Poland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, and Asia excluding Singapore, with a theatrical release planned for next year.
The acquisition reinforces Infiniti’s rapid rise since her feature debut, following Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and BAFTA nominations for One Battle After Another, along with an Emmy nomination for Hulu’s The Testaments. Landing a follow-up role this quickly, and in a project substantial enough to draw immediate distribution interest out of a major festival, reflects how decisively a single breakout performance can reposition an actor’s career trajectory within the same awards cycle rather than requiring years to build momentum.
The cast also includes Carmen Ejogo, Chloe Bailey, Nina Hoss, Nico Hiraga, Liz Lin, and Alex Dillard. The film is produced by Jeffrey Penman, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Lee Stollman, Anderson, Nick Scherma, Tayler Haynes, Andrey Epifanov, and Eleonora Granata-Jenkinson, among others, with the distribution deal negotiated between Sony Pictures Classics and Gersh. Byrne, in a statement, described the film’s acquisition as a lifelong dream realized, crediting Sony Pictures Classics co-founders Michael Barker and Tom Bernard with decades of ensuring audiences “catch the movies worth catching.”
With a theatrical release still a year out and reviews already favorable out of Toronto, the next marker to watch will be how The Julia Set performs once it reaches wider audiences, and whether it cements Infiniti as a consistent awards-season presence rather than a single breakout moment.