Andie MacDowell in Tara Road
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Irish movies, which include Neil Jordan's ‘Breakfast On Pluto’, Gillies MacKinnon’s ‘Tara Road’ and Lenny Abrahamson's ‘Adam and Paul’ have proved popular with international distributors securing impressive overseas sales deals in recent weeks.
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Sony Pictures Classics has taken North American, Latin American, German , Austrian and South African rights to Neil Jordan’s
‘Breakfast On Pluto’ starring Cillian Murphy, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson and Bryan Ferry.
A joint statement from Sony Pictures Classics says, "We have been pursuing 'Breakfast on Pluto' from the moment we read it over three years ago. It is one of those rare scripts - bold and fresh and richly picaresque. We as a team have wanted to release a Neil Jordan movie ever since Company of Wolves over 20 years ago. It is great to be at last working with him on a film of such great potential for success, as well as his producer Alan Moloney, and our friends at Pathé UK."
Parallel’s Alan Moloney added, "Both Neil and I are delighted with this arrangement with Sony Pictures Classics. They are ideally placed to bring this extraordinary film to the widest possible audience."
In addition, sales agent Pathe Pictures International has sold ‘Breakfast on Pluto’ to Spain (Vertigo), Japan (Elephant/Pony Canyon), Scandinavia (Nordisk) and Holland (A Film), as well as Portugal, Greece, Eastern Europe and Israel. Co-financed by Pathe, BSÉ/IFB , the Northern Ireland Film & TV Commission and Bank of Ireland, the film was produced by Alan Moloney and Stephen Woolley.
Gillies MacKinnon's Irish filmed ‘Tara Road’ has been sold by The Works to Scandinavia's Svensk. Based on Maeve Binchy’s best selling novel and starring Andie MacDowell and Stephen Rea, the film was produced by Noel Pearson, executive produced by Anne Marie Naughton and co-financed by BSÉ/IFB, SureFire, Bank of Ireland, RTE, TeleMunchen and Buena Vista International (Ireland) which shall release the film locally this year.
Following the ‘Adam & Paul’ international premiere in February's Berlin International Film Festival and it’s double win at the Sofia International Film Festival earlier this month ‘Adam & Paul’ has now been sold by sales agent Moviehouse Entertainment to Spain (Karma Films), Greece (Village Roadshow) and the UK (Guerilla Pictures for Theatrical/TV and Xtravision for Video/DVD). ‘Adam & Paul’ is co-financed by BSÉ/IFB, RTE and Xtravision, produced by Jonny Speers and executive produced by Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney
Also sold to the UK (TLA Releasing) was David Gleeson’s award-winning ‘Cowboys & Angels’ by sales agent Media Luna Entertainment , which co-financed the film with BSÉ/IFB, Hamburg Film Fund, BKM and FFA.
Fellow low budget title ‘Goldfish Memory’ (co-financed by BSÉ/IFB, RTE and XtraVision) has been sold by sales agent NonStop to more than 30 markets and will be released on 20 prints in Poland in April (through SPI Films) while Irish box office hit ‘Man About Dog’ has been sold to Israel by Element X.
Meanwhile, BAFTA-nominated ‘Omagh’ recently won Best Actor at the UK's Royal Television Awards for star Gerard McSorley recently. Co-financed by BSÉ/IFB, RTE and the UK's Channel 4, the film was sold by Portman for theatrical releases in Belgium (by Cineart) and France (by Haut et Court) at the end of March and gets a release in Spain (by Alta Film) in April.
"Export of Irish films is key to the development of Irish talent, so this level of overseas activity generated by the sales agents of these films is most encouraging," said BSÉ/IFB CEO Mark Woods. "BSÉ/IFB's diverse slate of distinctive films from talented writers, directors, producers and actors is being recognised by quality distributors and festivals around the world."
