The film received its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019 and recently made its Irish Premiere at the Dublin International Film Festival earlier this month.
Calm with Horses follows ex-boxer Douglas “Arm” Armstrong (Cosmo Jarvis; Lady Macbeth, Peaky Blinders), the faithful and violent right-hand-man to the drug-dealing Devers clan, ready to dole out beatings at the whim of his best friend, and the family’s unpredictable protégé, Dympna (Barry Keoghan; Dunkirk, American Animals).
Arm’s struggle to find his place in the world has consequences on his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Ursula (Niamh Algar; The Virtues, The Last Right) as she strives to find a better life for herself and their young son Jack. When Arm is asked to kill a man who has crossed the Devers, his loyalties are truly tested and his attempts to do the right thing set off a chaotic chain of events that will affect everyone he holds dear.
Discussing the current situation surrounding the film's release, Element Pictures stated: “Calm with Horses opened to Irish and UK cinemas last weekend to great acclaim thanks to the enormous support of all our exhibitor partners, the media and our wonderful audiences.
“Due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control, the film’s release along with all other new releases has been affected by cinema closures. Element Distribution and Altitude’s thoughts are with all our industry friends and colleagues at this time and we really look forward to supporting our cinema partners once again as soon as it is possible to do so.
“In the meantime, in order to give audiences at home an opportunity to view Calm with Horses, Element Distribution and Altitude announce we have brought forward the films on-demand release to April 27th.”
The film will be available on a broad range of VOD platforms including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Sky Store, Virgin Media, Talk Talk, BT TV, Curzon Home Cinema, BFI Player, Rakuten TV and Volta from April 27th.
The film is directed by Nick Rowland, written by Joe Murtagh, produced by Dan Emmerson, Rory Gilmartin, Kate Glover, and executive produced by Michael Fassbender, Conor McCaughan, Andrew Lowe, Ed Guiney, Sam Lavender, Daniel Battsek, Sue Bruce-Smith, Will Clarke, Mike Runagall, Celine Haddad, Sarah Dillon.
Calm with Horses is a DMC Film, Element Pictures production in association with Altitude Film Entertainment; developed and co-financed by Film4 and Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland with the participation of The Western Region Audiovisual Producer’s Fund/WRAP Fund.
Calm With Horses will be released digitally in the UK & Ireland on April 27th, 2020.