Steve Coogan and Eanna Hardwicke

Source: Thomas Laisne, Madeline Mulqueen

Steve Coogan and Éanna Hardwicke will star in UKGSF-backed ‘Saipan’

The British Film Institute (BFI) has issued a further 11 awards through the UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF), including Karim Aïnouz’s Rosebushpruning, Irish football story Saipan, starring Steve Coogan, and The Bureau-produced Moroccan co-production Behind The Palm Trees.

Rosebushpruning is the next feature from Brazilian director Aïnouz. It is a contemporary adaptation of Marco Bellocchio’s Fists In The Pocket, with Elle Fanning attached to star.

Producers are Kavac Film, The Match Factory and Surfilm, with CryBaby the minority UK producer on the project. Fremantle’s Italy-based The Apartment is on board as a co-producer, and Mubi  is one of the backers. 

Scroll down to the full UKGSF list

Saipan is a minority UK co-production with Ireland, produced by Trevor Birney of Belfast-based Fine Point Films, whose credits include Kneecap, alongside Olly Butler of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic.

Northern Ireland duo Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn direct the story of the infamous bust-up between Roy Keane, the Ireland football team’s captain and manager Mick McCarthy, just days before a 2002 World Cup game in the Japanese city of Saipan. Coogan stars alongside Éanna Hardwicke.

Rebekah Fortune’s comedy drama Learning To Breathe Under Wate r,  the next feature by Kneecap’s UK producer Jack Tarling of Shudder Films has also received backing. Kneecap co-producer Patrick O’Neill of Ireland’s Wildcard is also on board, with Wales-based Nan Davies of One Wave Films, and Hanneke Niens of the Netherlands’ Dutch Key Film co-producing. 

The film is about an eccentric artist and his son whose lives are uplifted by the arrival of a Bulgarian au pair.

Moroccan director Meryem Benm’Barek’s Behind The Palm Trees  has also received funding. It is a minority UK co-production with France, Morocco and Belgium, with Tristan Goligher at UK’s The Bureau co-producing with France’s Tessalit and Furyo Films alongside Belgian Novak Productions and Morocco’s Agora Films. The Tangier-set feature is about  a young man who becomes embroiled in the glamorous social life of the wealthy expatriate community.

Toronto premiere Blue Road - The Edna O’Brien Story  has also received UKGSF co-production funding. It is a minority UK co-production with Ireland. The UK producer is Eleanor Emptage of Tara Films, who co-produces with Ireland’s Claire McCabe and Sinead O’Shea of SOS Productions. O’Shea also directs the documentary feature, a portrait of charismatic author Edna O’Brien, with Jessie Buckley narrating.

Belgium, UK, Poland and Greece co-production Dust is the latest from James Watson and Mikko Mäkelä of Bêtes Sauvages, the outfit behind Sundance premiere Sebastian. They co-produce with Dries Phlypo of Belgium’s A Private View, Joanna Szymańska and Krystyna Kantor of Poland’s Shipsboy and Giorgos Karnavas of Greece’s Heretic. Belgian Anke Blondé directs the feature, set in Belgium in the spring of 1999, and depicts 24 hours in the lives of two fraudulent entrepreneurs who get caught in the eye of a massive storm.

The international co-production strand will open for the next round of applications in September. 

Financed through the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the 11 awards have allocated over £1.7m through the fund’s international co-production strand, supporting UK producers to work as partners on international co-productions and help create global projects. To-date the strand has now awarded over £8.1m to 51 co-productions, with grants available for feature films, TV animation and documentary projects.

This latest round of awards sees the UK  co-producing with 15 territories and will be the first time the fund has supported collaborations with Morocco and Switzerland. The funding will also support partnerships with Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and the USA.

UKGSF international co-production awards

Behind The Palm Trees (Fr-Belg-Mor-UK)
Dir. Meryem Benm’Barek

Prods. Tessalit, Furyo Films, Novak Productions, Agora Films, The Bureau

Blue Road - The Edna O’Brien Story (Ire-UK)

Dir. Sinéad O’Shea

Prods. SOS Productions, Tara Films

Dust (Belg-UK-Pol-Greece)
Dir. Anke Blondé
Prods. A Private View, Bêtes Sauvages, Shipsboy, Heretic

Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Ire-UK-Nor-US)
Dir. Grant Gee
Prods. Cowtown Pictures, Hot Property, Eye Eye Pictures, Bona Fide Productions

Learning To Breathe Under Water (UK-Ire-Neth)

Dir. Rebekah Fortune
Prods. Shudder Films, One Wave Films, Wildcard, Dutch Key Film

Miss Pirie And Miss Woods (Ger-UK-Switz)

Dir. Sophie Heldman
Prods. Heimatfilm, Edge City Films, DV Film Productions

Piripenguins (UK-It) -TV animation project
Dir. Massimo Fenati
Prods. Eaglet Films, Red Monk, Wild Child Animation

Ring Road (UK-Ice)

Dir. Laura Scrivano
Prod. Silver Salt Films

Rosebushpruning (It-Ger-Sp-UK)
Dir. Karim Aïnouz

Prods. Kavac Film, The Match Factory, Surfilm, CryBaby, The Apartment

Saipan (Ire-UK)
Dirs. Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn
Prods. Wild Atlantic Pictures, Fine Point Films

The Titan Disaster (working title) (UK-Can-US-Ger) – documentary TV project for BBC 

Prods. Renegade Stories, Galafilm, Discovery Channel USA, CBC, ZDF

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