Bankside Films releases first clip and poster for the Screen Ireland-supported LOLA
Posted: 17th August 2022
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is delighted to welcome the announcement that Bankside Films have released the first clip and poster for Andrew Legge’s LOLA to support its Edinburgh run following its world premiere at the Locarno International Film Festival. LOLA stars Emma Appleton (Everything I Know About Love, The Witcher), Stefanie Martini (The Last Kingdom, Prime Suspect 1973), Rory Fleck Byrne (This Is Going To Hurt) and Aaron Monaghan.
England, 1941, sisters Thomasina and Martha have created a machine that can intercept broadcasts from the future. This delightful apparatus allows them to explore their inner punk a generation before the movement comes into existence. But with World War II escalating the sisters decide to use the machine as a weapon of intelligence, with world-altering consequences.
LOLA is produced by Alan Maher and John Wallace of Cowtown Pictures (Rialto) in association with Alice Lusher and Catryn Ramasut of ie ie productions (Queerama), with funding from Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Head Gear Films, Ffilm Cymru Wales and ROADS Entertainment. Executive producers are Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Stephen Kelliher, Sophie Green, Dearbhla Regan, Bizzy Day, Andrew Legge and Danielle Ryan.
The film has screened in competition at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on August 15th, and will screen an additional time on August 19th. It premiered at the Locarno Film Festival at the beginning of the month.
Bankside films are handling international sales.
Founded in London in 2007, Bankside Films is a leading international sales company providing worldwide distribution, executive producing and financing services to independent producers globally. The company also manages an in-house development and production slate, originating its own projects as well as partnering with filmmakers to commission and develop new material. Bankside Films also enjoys a close relationship with its sister company, Head Gear Films, a leading financier of global content whilst maintaining relationships with a broad range of international financiers. The company is driven by a passion for storytelling which challenges the status quo.
Bankside Films prides itself on working with unique and distinctive cinematic voices capable of delivering exciting new stories for worldwide audiences. Emerging filmmakers are intrinsic to the company’s ethos and we continue to champion them whilst remaining a key partner for more established directors and producers.
Past successes include Belle by Amma Asante, sold globally to Searchlight Pictures, Cargo by Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling, sold globally to Netflix, Sundance title The Hole In The Ground by first time director Lee Cronin, which was acquired by A24 in the US, Ordinary Love by Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, sold internationally to Focus Features and domestically to Bleecker Street, In Fabric by Peter Strickland, sold domestically to A24, Eternal Beauty written and directed by Craig Roberts and starring Sally Hawkins and Wolf written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri and starring George MacKay and Lily Rose Depp which sold to Focus Features globally.
Recent festival successes include Terence Davies’ Benediction and Kate Dolan’s You Are Not My Mother which both premiered at the Toronto Film Festival 2021. Jim Archer’s Brian and Charles and Goran Stolevksi’s You Won’t Be Alone both premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year, and both sold internationally to Focus. Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet was also in official selection at the Berlin Film Festival this year. Forthcoming festival premieres include Juan Diego Botto’s On The Fringe starring Penelope Cruz which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Andrew Legge’s LOLA which premieres at the Locarno Film Festival and then goes on to a competition slot at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and Mary Harron’s much anticipated Dalíland which will be the closing night film at the Toronto Film Festival.
In the documentary space, the company is drawn to broad appeal, human stories which can perform in the traditional theatrical space as well as on worldwide streaming services. Our approach to selling documentaries mirror that of fictional features and our relationships with buyers of documentary films are second to none.