Screen spotlights 13 UK titles aiming to tempt festival directors in 2022 – a year which the industry is hoping will see yet more in-person festivals flourish. Includes new titles from Joanna Hogg, Mark Jenkin, Martin McDonagh and Florian Zeller, plus debuts from Prasanna Puwanarajah and Charlotte Regan.
A Gaza Weekend
Dir. Basil Khalil
Palestinian-UK director Khalil’s first feature is set amid a viral epidemic which consumes Israel, leaving Gaza the safest place in the region. Amina Dasmal and Robin Fox produce for their UK and UAE-based Alcove Entertainment, with backing from the BFI and Film4, and a cast including Stephen Mangan and Mouna Hawa. Protagonist Pictures is handling worldwide sales.
Contact: Protagonist Pictures
Ballywalter
Dir. Prasanna Puwanarajah
UK actor Puwanarajah – who is to reprise his role of Martin Bashir from Diana in the upcoming series of The Crown – makes his directorial debut in this comedy, which follows a university drop-out living with her mum and making money as an unlicensed minicab driver, who picks up a budding stand-up comic whose marriage has imploded. Seána Kerslake stars in the comedy alongside Patrick Kielty. Producers are James Bierman of Empire Street Productions and Nik Bower of Riverstone Pictures – both London-based – in co-production with Alan Maher and John Wallace of Ireland’s Cowtown Pictures. It is financed by the BFI Film Fund, Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen and Salmira Productions. Bankside Films handles worldwide sales.
Contact: Bankside Films
The Banshees Of Inisherin
Dir. Martin McDonagh
McDonagh’s next feature, following Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, reunites the director with In Bruges stars Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, and frequent collaborators Graham Broadbent and Peter Czernin of Blueprint Pictures, who produce for Searchlight Pictures and Film4. A pair of lifelong friends on a remote Irish island find their relationship is unravelling. Searchlight has worldwide distribution rights.
Contact: Searchlight Pictures
Enys Men
Dir. Mark Jenkin
This 1970s-set horror is Jenkin’s follow-up to his breakout, Bait. He directs from his own script, with Film4 co-financing and Denzil Monk producing for Bosena. Bait star Mary Woodvine plays the lead, who lives alone on a Cornish island, haunted by both the past and the future. Protagonist is representing worldwide sales.
Contact: Protagonist Pictures
The Eternal Daughter
Dir. Joanna Hogg
Tilda Swinton reunites with The Souvenir director Hogg for this ghost story, which shot secretly in Wales and centres on a middle-aged daughter and her elderly mother who confront buried secrets when revisiting their former family home. Element Pictures produces with JWH Films, with BBC Film backing. Martin Scorsese is an executive producer and A24 has worldwide rights.
Contact: A24
I Came By
Dir. Babak Anvari
Anvari’s third film, following Under The Shadow and Wounds, is a thriller for Netflix about an anarchistic graffiti artist. It boasts a cast including George Mackay, Kelly Macdonald and Hugh Bonneville. Film4 and New Regency developed the project and executive produce alongside XYZ.
Contact: Netflix
Medusa Deluxe
Dir. Thomas Hardiman
Hardiman’s debut is a murder mystery set amid a competitive hairdressing competition, also written by Hardiman, and produced by Mike Elliott, Louise Palmkvist Hansen and Lee Groombridge of Emu Films, developed and financed by BFI and BBC Film. Hardiman previously worked as a producer’s assistant on Emu’s Catch Me Daddy and The Goob. New Europe Film Sales is handling worldwide distribution.
Contact: New Europe Film Sales
Pretty Red Dress
Dir. Dionne Edwards
Edwards’ debut stars Natey Jones and X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, and explores a south London family whose lives revolve around one red dress. Georgia Goggin produces the drama for the UK’s Teng Teng Films, in collaboration with the BFI, BBC Film and the Sundance Institute. Edwards was a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2019. Protagonist Pictures is handling world sales.
Contact: Protagonist Pictures
The Son
Dir. Florian Zeller
Zeller’s follow-up to Oscar winner The Father sees Vanessa Kirby and Hugh Jackman play new parents whose lives are thrown into disarray when the father’s ex-wife appears. See-Saw Films produces with Christophe Spadone alongside Zeller. Film4 has co-financed. Embankment and Cross City Films are co- handling international sales.
Contact: Embankment
Scrapper
Dir. Charlotte Regan
This is the first feature from Regan, a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2020. The inverted coming-of-age tale follows 12-year-old Georgie, who lives independently in her own magical world in London, until her estranged father returns. Theo Barrowclough produces for DMC Film. The iFeatures project is supported by Creative England, BFI and BBC Film.
Contact: DMC Film
The Swimmers
Dir. Sally El Hosaini
The true story of Syrian Olympic swimmer sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini is produced by Working Title Films for Netflix. My Brother The Devil filmmaker El Hosaini took over as director from Stephen Daldry, who remains an executive producer. Jack Thorne has written the drama’s screenplay, with real-life sisters, Lebanese actresses Manal and Nathalie Issa, in the lead roles.
Contact: Netflix
Tuesday
Dir. Daina O. Pusic
Screen Star of Tomorrow 2021 Lola Petticrew stars as a 15-year-old girl alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus as her mother in O. Pusic’s debut feature, produced by Helen Gladders of Gingerbread Pictures, Ivana MacKinnon of Wild Swim Films and Oliver Roskill of Record Player Films alongside A24. BBC Film has co-financed with A24, alongside the BFI and Cinereach.
Contact: A24
The Wonder
Dir. Sebastián Lelio
Fiona Lamptey’s first Netflix commission is a psychological thriller starring Florence Pugh, Niamh Algar and Ciaran Hinds. House Productions and Element Pictures produce. It’s based on a novel by Room writer Emma Donoghue, about an English nurse observing a girl in an Irish village in 1862, who has apparently survived months without eating.
Contact: Netflix
No comments yet