Focus Features has acquired the worldwide rights to Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,  a new documentary from filmmaker Morgan Neville about the life and work of Mister Fred Rogers.  The film has a release date of June 18, 2018.

According to a statement released this afternoon from the studio, the emotional and moving documentary will take an intimate look at the man who asked us if we would be his neighbor.

“Morgan once again avoids making a traditional biodoc and instead takes us behind the curtain to see how Fred Rogers navigated the cultural and social issues of the second half of the twentieth century with his own brand of forward-thinking, compassionate wisdom far beyond his time,” commented Focus chairman Peter Kujawski.  “Mister Rogers makes us all want to be better people, and we couldn’t be more proud to be a part of telling his story today.”

“The Fred Rogers I discovered making this film is at once comfortably familiar and completely surprising. I believe Mister Rogers is the kind of voice we need to hear right now,” said director Morgan Neville. “I am thrilled to work with Focus Features on taking this film out into the world, along with my collaborators at Impact Partners and Independent Lens.”

“This is Morgan’s fourth film with Independent Lens, following our Emmy Award-winning collaboration on Best of Enemies,” said Lois Vossen, Independent Lens Executive Producer. “His beautiful new film shows us just how cool Mister Rogers was and how relevant and vital his voice is right now.”

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is produced by Morgan Neville, Caryn Capotosto and Nicholas Ma and is a production of Tremolo Productions in association with Impact Partners and IndependentLens / PBS.  The deal was negotiated by Endeavor Content and Judith Karfiol on behalf of the filmmakers.