According to Variety, Amazon Studios has secured the North American rights to Phyllida Lloyd’s new drama Herself.
It’s believed that the subscription video-on-demand service is planning a theatrical release for later this year.
The news comes following the film's World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it debuted to great acclaim with Variety’s Peter Debruge tipping it to be “a major awards season contender” next year. Debruge continued, “I’m convinced this inspirational Dublin-set drama could go all the way…Don’t be surprised if people are still talking about Herself this time next year, when Lloyd could be the sixth woman to break the Oscars’ glass ceiling.”
Herself is directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!, The Iron Lady) and co-written by Clare Dunne, who also stars in the film, and Malcolm Campbell (What Richard Did). The film follows the story of Sandra (Clare Dunne), who on the surface of it, is a young Mum struggling to provide her two young daughters with a warm, safe, happy home to grow up in. Beneath the surface, Sandra has a steely determination to change their lives for the better and when it becomes clear that there are no other options left to her, she decides to build it herself from scratch. Other cast include Harriet Walter (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Killing Eve, Succession) and Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones, Dublin Murders).
The film was developed by Element Pictures and Merman and is produced by Academy Award® nominee Ed Guiney and Rory Gilmartin for Element, together with IFTA and BAFTA award-winning actress, writer, producer, and director Sharon Horgan. The film was developed with BBC Films and Screen Ireland and production was backed by Screen Ireland, BBC Films and the BFI (with National Lottery funding). Herself was shot entirely in Dublin.
Element Distribution will be releasing the film in Ireland and Picturehouse Entertainment in the UK. Cornerstone Films is handling worldwide sales and distribution. Cornerstone Films has closed deals with Youplanet Caramel (Spain), BIM (Italy), Longride (Japan), Lusomundo (Portugal), Forum (Israel) and Italia (Middle East), having screened footage for the first time at the American Film Market.