October 2, 2023

Toronto: Closer Media’s Zhang Xin and William Horberg on Landing Three Films at TIFF, Upcoming Elon Musk Doc

Zhang Xin, the renowned Chinese entrepreneur who used her love of architecture and brilliant business acumen to reshape Beijing and Shanghai’s skyline, has turned her attention to a new challenge: film producer. In September 2022, the billionaire businesswoman — who spent her teenage years working in Hong Kong garment and electronics factories — resigned as CEO of SOHO China, one of the world’s preeminent real estate companies she built with her husband, and took up permanent residence in New York City. Zhang will celebrate the one-year anniversary of leaving SOHO at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival, where the Manhattan-based Closer Media, the startup indie production and financing venture she runs with veteran indie producer William Horberg, has no fewer than three films screening. Horberg’s numerous credits include The Queen’s Gambit and The Kite Runner. Their Toronto lineup includes the Tony Goldwyn-directed Ezra, a dramedy about an autistic 11-year-old who embarks on a road trip with his father. Newcomer William Fitzgerald, who himself is autistic, stars in the titular role opposite Bobby Cannavale, Robert De Niro, Rose Byrne, Vera Farmiga and Whoopi Goldberg. Then there’s The Monk and the Gun from Oscar-nominated Bhutanese writer-director Pawo Choyning Dorji. His new film — which sparked immediate awards buzz upon screening at the Telluride Film Festival ahead of Toronto — charts the Kingdom of Bhutan’s transition to democracy in the early 2000s in a parable about embracing modernity without disregarding the past. Zhang and Horberg are also investing heavily in documentaries. Their third Toronto entry is Alex Gibney’s In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon. Closer is also among the backers of Gibney’s highly anticipated Elon Musk documentary Musk alongside Anonymous Content and Black Bear (HBO won a bidding war for North American rights). And the Gibney connection doesn’t end there. Closer has a stake in acclaimed Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck’s upcoming feature-length doc Orwell, which will be distributed in North America by Neon. Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions is among the producers of Peck’s film about the legendary George Orwell. (Peck’s 2016 film I Am Not Your Negro earned an Oscar nomination for best documentary feature). Horberg and Zhang, who work out of Midtown Manhattan office space, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter on the eve of Toronto about meeting for the first time and how they are looking to take part in the content revolution by working with established and emerging filmmakers from around the world.