Showtime Documentary Films Acquires Worldwide Rights to Sinéad O’Connor Doc ‘Nothing Compares’

Showtime Documentary Films have acquired worldwide rights to “Nothing Compares,” the documentary about Sinéad O’Connor that premiered at the virtual 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Vinnie Malhotra, Executive Vice President, Nonfiction Programming, Showtime Networks Inc. announced on Tuesday.

“Nothing Compares” was directed by Kathryn Ferguson in feature directorial debut, and was an official selection in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival last week.

Showtime is planning a theatrical release later this year in the U.S., UK and Ireland ahead of the premiere in the U.S., and its international partner streaming platforms later this year.

“When we began making this documentary four years ago, a key objective was that we would one day be able to share the film with audiences around the world, and to celebrate Sinéad’s music and artistry with fans both old and new,” Ferguson said in a statement. “We’re delighted to be partnering with Showtime to achieve that.”

In his review of the film, TheWrap’s Steve Pond wrote “‘Nothing Compares’ is a movie that is both timely and curiously out of time. It’s a potent film that explores the roots of the brilliant but troubled Irish singer, who’s been back in the news recently with the suicide of her teenage son and her own hospitalization, but it also turns her recent years into an afterthought, bypassing many of the highs and lows that led her here over the last two decades.”

“Nothing Compares” is produced by Eleanor Emptage and Michael Mallie for Tara Films (UK) and Ard Mhacha Productions (Ireland), and presented by Field of Vision. Executive producers are Charlotte Cook, Lesley McKimm, Lucy Pullin, John Reynolds and Lisa Marie Russo. The film was supported by Screen Ireland, the BFI Doc Society Fund, IE:Entertainment and Northern Ireland Screen.

Submarine represented the film for worldwide sales, and brokered the deal with Showtime.