Updated: The Cannes Film Festival will have an admirable UK and Irish presence in 2024, including three films from Dublin, London and Belfast-based production company Element Pictures, Andrea Arnold’s Bird in Competition and features from fresh talents Sandhya Suri and Rungano Nyoni, as well as Sister Midnight in Directors’ Fortnight.
Competition is still proving a tricky spot to land for UK or Irish directors. In 2022, none made the cut, while in 2023, UK filmmakers Ken Loach and Jonathan Glazer made it through with The Old Oak and The Zone Of Interest respectively.
This year, Arnold is flying the flag with her sixth feature Bird starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski, about a 12-year-old living in a north Kent squat with her single dad and brother. It is produced by House Productions, with BBC Film and BFI among the funders, and UK sales outfit Cornerstone Films handling international sales.
It’s Arnold’s fourth time in Competition following her debut Red Road in 2006, Fish Tank in 2009 and American Honey in 2016; all three films won the jury prize. Cow premiered in 2021 in the Cannes Premiere section.
Arnold will also be honoured this year with Directors’ Fortnight’s Carrosse d’Or award.
Elsewhere in Competition, Fremantle label Element Pictures appears with Kinds Of Kindness, their latest collaboration with Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos, sitting alongside Working Title’s body horror The Substance, from French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat. UK-Australian outfit Brouhaha Entertainment is involved in Brazilian filmmaker Karim Ainouz’s thriller Motel Destino, after producing his Cannes 2023 Competition title Firebrand.
Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, that charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power, is a Canada-Ireland-Denmark co-production, with Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde the Irish producers for Tailored Films, and Screen Ireland among its funders.
Outside of Competition, Greek-French actor Ariane Labed’s directorial debut September Says will world premiere in Un Certain Regard. The film is an adaptation of Daisy Johnson’s gothic novel Sisters, relocating the story from England to Ireland. Sackville Film & TV Productions (Ireland), Element Pictures (Ireland/UK) and Crybaby Films (UK) produce, with The Match Factory handling sales; the film’s backers include Screen Ireland, BBC Film and the UK Global Screen Fund.
Also in Un Certain Regard is Zambian-Welsh filmmaker Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming A Guinea Fowl, the follow-up to her debut feature I Am Not A Witch, which bowed in Directors’ Fortnight in 2017. It is produced by Element Pictures with backing from A24 and BBC Film.
Mike Goodridge’s UK outfit Good Chaos is back on the Croisette, having co-produced 2022 Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness and 2023 Competition title Club Zero. This time, it’s with Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023 Sandhya Suri’s neo-noir narrative debut Santosh, playing in Un Certain Regard.
The film follows a newly widowed woman who inherits her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India, where a low-caste girl is found raped and murdered. Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge and James Bowsher are the UK producers, alongside France’s Balthazar de Ganay and Alan McAlex of India’s Suitable Pictures. BFI and BBC Film are among the backers.
In the Midnight section, Dublin-born filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan is showing Australia-shot The Surfer, which stars Nicolas Cage and is produced through Tea Shop Productions (UK) along with Finnegan’s Irish outfit Lovely Productions, Arenamedia (Australia) and Gramercy Park Media (US).
Parallel presence
India-born filmmaker Karan Kandhari’s Sister Midnight is heading to Directors’ Fortnight. The Mumbai-set love story is produced by UK companies Wellington Films and Griffin Pictures, and coproduced by Sweden’s Filmgate Films, with BFI and Film4 among the backers. UK sales outfit Protagonist Pictures is handling sales.
Another UK sales outfit with a title in Cannes is Film Constellation, who is selling Critics’ Week closing night film Animale, from French filmmaker Emma Benestan.
No comments yet