John Crowley’s ‘Is Anybody There?’, Kari Skogland’s ‘Fifty Deadmen Walking’, Maeve Murphy's ‘Beyond the Fire’ and ‘Helen’, the debut feature from Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy are some of the Irish related films to received Lottery funding from the UK Film Council's Prints and Advertising Fund.
The U.K. Film Council will hand out nearly £1 million to boost the distribution of 18 selected titles.
Optimum Releasing has received £180,000 for ‘Is Anybody There?’ directed by John Crowley (Intermission, Boy A). The film charts the unlikely friendship that develops in an old people’s home between a retired magician (Michael Caine) and a ten year old boy (Bill Milner). The P&A funding will widen the film's release on 1 May from 50 to 100 screens, and go towards publicity and advertising costs.
Metrodome Distribution also received £250,000 to increase distribution of Kari Skogland's Belfast shot thriller ‘Fifty Dead Men Walking,’ based on the real life story of Martin McGartland, played by Jim Sturgess, who is recruited by a British intelligence agent (Ben Kingsley). The award enhanced advertising and widened the film's release on 10 April from 50 to 100 sites.
Met Film received £5,000 for Irish director Maeve Murphy's ‘Beyond the Fire’ a love story that develops between an Irish ex priest and a woman who has her own experience of abuse. New Wave will benefit from £5,000 from the fund for ‘Helen’, the debut feature from Irish award-winning short film directors Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy. ‘Helen’ centres on a young girl who is asked to play a missing girl in a police reconstruction. In doing so, she embarks on a search for her own identity.
Other titles to offered funds include ‘Let the Right One In’, ‘Shifty’, ‘The Age of Stupid’, ‘Genova’, ‘Cherry Blossoms’, ‘Il Divo’, ‘The End’, ‘Encounters at the End of the World’, ‘Tyson’ and ‘In the Loop’, ‘New Town Killers’, ‘In the City of Sylvia’, ‘This Sporting Life’, ‘Modern Life’ and the subtitling and audio-description of two British films, ‘An Englishman in New York’ and ‘To Each Her Own’.
For more information visit www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk
