IRISH FILMS EXPORTING TO THE WORLD
Impressive overseas sales by Neil Jordan's BREAKFAST ON PLUTO and plaudits for Lenny Abrahamson's ADAM & PAUL topline an exciting first quarter of export activities for Bord Scannan na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (BSÉ/IFB) co-financed features.In a major deal, Sony Pictures Classics has taken North American, Latin American, German , Austrian and South African rights to BREAKFAST ON PLUTO. In addition, sales agent Pathe Pictures International has sold 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.
Following ADAM & PAUL’s international premiere in the Panaroma Section of February's Berlin International Film Festival, the film went on to win both the Main Prize and Critics Prize at the Sofia International Film Festival earlier this month. Co-financed by BSÉ/IFB, RTE and Xtravision, produced by Jonny Speers and executive produced by Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney, 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)
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, Gillies MacKinnon's TARA ROAD was 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 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.
Additionally, 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."