EFM 2025: The buzz titles from the UK

Altitude Film Sales is launching Danny Cannon’s horror thriller Obey. A couple decide to divorce, but must put their differences aside to save their son from a home invader. Josh Kesselman, Ross Dinerstein and Lindsay MacAdam produce. Altitude will also be showing a new promo of Angel Gomez’s thriller Arachnid.

Anton debuts a sales promo of David Mackenzie’s Fuze — a heist thriller about the discovery of an unexploded Second World War bomb in London, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Theo James. Anton also produces, alongside Sigma Films; UTA Independent Film Group and WME Independent are co-representing US rights with Anton. Anton is also selling A Prayer For The Dying, co-repped with New Europe Film Sales. Dara Van Dusen directs the survival story set on the American frontier during a deadly epidemic. Johnny Flynn and John C Reilly star. Eye Eye Pictures produces.

Bankside Films will be showing a promo from James McAvoy’s directorial debut California Schemin’, starring Samuel Bottomley, Seamus McLean Ross and McAvoy. The drama is based on the true story of two young Scottish men who con the music industry. The producers are Ransom Films and Homefront Productions. Bankside is also selling Miguel Angel Jimenez’s The Birthday Party, a drama set in the late 1970s starring Willem Dafoe, Emma Suarez and Joe Cole, produced by Heretic.

Black Bear continues sales on Guy Ritchie’s Wife And Dog, based on a true story and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike, Anthony Hopkins, Cosmo Jarvis and James Norton. A scientist uncovers a pesticide’s toxicity, igniting a battle against its manufacturer. Ritchie produces alongside Ivan Atkinson and Black Bear’s John Friedberg.

Capture Entertainment, a merger of Signature’s sales arm with US company Capstone, continues sales on thriller Pike River, starring Melanie Lynskey and Robyn Malcolm. It is based on a true story about two women fighting for justice following a mine explosion. Rob Sarkies directs and Vicky Pope produces.

Cornerstone Films is launching sales on James Kermack’s survival thriller Breathe Deep, set in the world of social media adventurers and starring Ingrid Torelli, Michiel Huisman and Avani Gregg; Featuristic Films produces. Cornerstone has also boarded Mike Leigh’s untitled next feature, with Studiocanal releasing in the UK and Ireland and Bleecker Street in the US.

Dogwoof is selling two Sundance premieres: Mstyslav Chernov’s 2000 Meters To Andriivka, which turns the lens on Ukrainian soldiers and is produced by Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath; and Shoshannah Stern’s Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, which explores the life of the Oscar-winning Children Of A Lesser God and CODA actress.

Embankment Films brings George Jaques’ coming-of-age comedy Sunny Dancer, set in a summer camp for young people affected by cancer. Neil Patrick Harris, James Norton and Jessica Gunning star for 27 Ten and Athenaeum Productions. True Brit will release in the UK. There is also Richard Eyre’s romance The Housekeeper, with Uma Thurman and Anthony Hopkins. CAA Media Finance co-reps the US.

Film Constellation is focusing on thriller Paradise, from Jérémy Comte. Two men, one in Ghana and one in Canada, have their lives derailed by family secrets. Daniel Atsu Hukporti and Joey Boivin-Desmeules star, with Entract Studios, EMAfilms and Constellation Productions producing. Alejandro Amenabar’s Spanish adventure epic The Captive is also on the slate; Julio Peña stars in the origin story of the man behind the novel Don Quixote.

Independent Entertainment is hoping UFO thriller Arctic Skies will land with buyers. The sci-fi thriller is inspired by a well-documented UFO encounter, and stars Morfydd Clark and Ariyon Bakare. Directors are duo Elliot and Zander Weaver of Elliander Pictures, producing with Lowkey Films. Independent is also continuing sales on Marc Evans’ Richard Burton biopic Mr Burton.

Protagonist Pictures brings Rod Blackhurst’s Die By Night to the market. Isabelle Fuhrman and Ben Hardy lead the cast of the dystopian survival thriller, set in a world where creatures known as the Horde hunt in the dark. Witchcraft Motion Picture Company and Story In The Sky produce, with UTA Independent Film Group repping North American sales. Also on the slate is Sophie Hyde’s Sundance queer family drama Jimpa, starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow. CAA Media Finance has North American sales.

WestEnd Films continues sales on Vadim Perelman’s Zealot, a thriller starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Djimon Hounsou, in which an airport shuttle driver is faced with a risky but lucrative offer from a passenger; Dark Castle produces. Also on the slate is Tina Gharavi’s romantic comedy Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day, starring Haley Bennett, Elyas M’Barek, Timothy Spall and Lily Allen.

HanWay Films is leading with Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Hot Milk, which world premieres in Competition at the Berlinale. The film has already sold widely, with Mubi taking much of Europe. A mother and daughter travel to a Spanish seaside town for a life-changing trip. Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw star, with Christine Langan producing for Bonnie Productions, alongside Kate Glover and Giorgos Karnavas.

Metro International has the first market screening of boxing drama Salvable, starring Toby Kebbell, Shia LaBeouf and James Cosmo, helmed by music-video directing duo Franklin & Marchetta and produced by Lowkey Films and Featuristic Films.

Mister Smith Entertainment is launching Sleeping Lions, starring Jonathan Pryce and Nick Mohammed. The comic crime mystery unravels around a murder attempt at the home of a dying earl. Atar Studios and Mint Pictures produce; Sky is releasing in the UK and Ireland.

Rocket Science is showing first footage of action comedy Sacrifice, Romain Gavras’s English-language debut. A high-end charity gala is raided by a group of radicals. Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy star, with Iconoclast and Heretic among the producers. Rocket Science co-reps with CAA Media Finance. Rocket Science is also screening Alex Winter’s noir Adulthood, starring Josh Gad and Kaya Scodelario.

SC Films is launching Alex Goyette’s psychological thriller Breeder, which delves into the ethical boundaries of modern science, and stars Daniel Doheny and Maddie Phillips. Rabbits Black co-produces and finances. SC Films also has family animation Jungle Beat 2 The Past.

Alief has boarded Jerome Yoo’s Korean immigration drama and Tallinn prize winner Mongrels. A widowed father struggles with a move to Canada from Korea. Jae-hyun Kim and Da-nu Nam star.

Blue Finch Films has Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese’s Lesbian Space Princess, an animated sci-fi comedy about a space princess on a quest to save her bounty hunter ex-girlfriend, which has its world premiere here in Panorama.

Brilliant Pictures will be showing footage from Brian Skiba’s western The Gunslingers, starring Stephen Dorff, Heather Graham and Nicolas Cage. A reformed desperado and eccentric genius seek vindication.

Blue Eyes Film is selling Second World War film Music In The Forrest, currently shooting in Italy, and written and directed by Roberto Lippolis.

Carnaby International has Rise Of The Footsoldier: Ibiza, in the final stages of its UK shoot. Craig Fairbass, Tamer Hassan and Leo Gregory star in the seventh instalment in the franchise. Nick Nevern directs.

Canoe Film continues sales on Stanislav Tiunov’s Ukrainian thriller Bucha Unbroken. A Kazakh national undertakes a clandestine civilian rescue operation in Ukraine.

Evolutionary Films is launching Lou Simon’s Nine Windows, about a woman who witnesses a murder online; William Forsythe stars.

FilmSeekers introduces Simon Rumley’s Bangkok-set English-language thriller Crushed to the market. A family’s faith and resilience are tested when their daughter is kidnapped. Steve Oram and Sahajak Boonthanakit star.

GFM Animation has the first screening of Steve Hudson’s animated feature Stitch Head, featuring the voices of Asa Butterfield, Joel Fry and Rob Brydon, and based on the children’s book series by Guy Bass.

Jinga Films is selling Nemanja Ceranic’s post-apocalypse Serbian epic Sword Of Vengeance. A warrior takes revenge on his family’s enemies.

Kaleidoscope is singing about Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, a documentary from Alan G Parker that explores the final decade of John Lennon’s life.

Moviehouse Entertainment has Kriv Stenders’ The Correspondent, based on the life of celebrated war correspondent Peter Greste.

Parkland Pictures continues sales on Rob Sorrenti’s Angels In The Asylum, starring Katherine Waterston and Simon Pegg and inspired by a BBC Newsnight exposé about women unjustly incarcerated in an asylum for the mentally ill.

Rapt Films continues sales on documentary Break The Game, directed by Jane M Wagner. A celebrated gamer loses her fanbase after coming out as trans.

Reason8 is introducing buyers to Forgive Us All, a horror western set in a post-apocalyptic world directed by Jordana Stott. Lily Sullivan and Callan Mulvey star.

Timeless Films launches sales on Olly Reid’s Wed Wabbit for Locksmith Animation, an adaptation of the book by Lissa Evans.

Together Films has documentary Life After from Reid Davenport, which looks back at the case of a disabled Californian woman in 1983 who sought the right to die.

Screenbound is launching Alan Delabie and Michael Morris’s action feature The Shepherd Code II — Road Back starring Lee Arenberg and Alan Delabie. A former professional assassin tries to lead a peaceful existence.

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