It is a mixed bag for UK and Irish films at this year’s Cannes – there’s a robust showing in Un Certain Regard, but it is a delicate year overall
It is a mixed bag for UK and Irish films at this year’s Cannes – there’s a robust showing in Un Certain Regard, but it is a delicate year overall for UK-Ireland female representation.
In Competition, as it stands, there are no films from UK or Irish directors.
However in Un Certain Regard, there are three UK-Irish debut features in selection. UK-Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow stars UK actor Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù. The semi-autobiographical tale is set over the course of a single day in the Nigerian capital Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis.
UK-Ireland outfit Element Pictures produces, alongside Nigeria’s Fatherland Productions, with BBC Film and BFI backing. Germany’s The Match Factory is selling the film at Cannes.
Pillion is a queer biker romance from Harry Lighton, sold by the UK’s Cornerstone, with BBC Film, the BFI and Picturehouse Entertainment among funders. Element Pictures also produces, along with Bird producer Lee Groombridge. UK actor Harry Melling stars alongside Alexander Skarsgard.
Urchin is the feature directorial debut of Triangle Of Sadness and Babygirl actor Harris Dickinson, based around a abrasive sleeper in London, starring Frank Dillane. UK outfits Devisio Pictures and Somesuch produce, with BBC Film and BFI also backing. France’s Charades has international rights.
UK funding
There are several films partly supported by UK funding in Competition – BBC Film is among the funders for Danish-Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, a portrait of a family living in Oslo, produced by Norway’s Maria Ekerhovd at Mer Film in co-production with Andrea Ottmar of Norway’s Eye Eye Productions, along with Zentropa (Denmark and Sweden), Komplizen Film (Germany), and Lumen and MK Productions (France). Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård star in the film that is being sold by France’s mk2.
Film4 is a backer of US-produced film The History Of Sound, from South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus, starring Irish actor Paul Mescal and the UK’s Josh O’Connor. It is set around the First World War period in the US. End Cue and Fat City produce, alongside Thérèsa Ryan-van Graan and Hermanus, plus Zhang Xin of New York-based production and finance company Closer Media that took a stake in Mubi in tardy 2024. Focus Features and Universal Pictures International will release internationally.
Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley’s UK outfit Number 9 Films is producing Kei Ishikawa’s Japanese-language Un Certain Regard title A Pale View Of The Hills, in assocation with Bunbuku, the Japanese production company founded by Hirokazu Kore-eda. The film is based on the debut novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and backed by Japanese streamer U-Next.
In Directors’ Fortnight, Australian filmmaker Sean Byrne’s shark thriller Dangerous Animals is produced by UK-Australia outfit Brouhaha, and sold by the UK’s Mister Smith Entertainment.
In Critics’ Week, Mike Goodridge’s UK company Good Chaos has produced Shih-Ching Tsou’s Taiwan-set Left-Handed Girl, with Tsou and US Palme d’Or and Oscar winner Sean Baker.
Out of competition, the UK will be on display in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which shot in the UK, with locations including Longcross Studios and the Lake District. Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Indira Varma and Hannah Waddington are among the UK cast.
Further on-screen UK talent poised to grace Croisette screens and red carpets are Chiwetel Ejiofor and Erin Kellyman, who appear in Scarlett Johansson’s Un Certain Regard US drama Eleanor The Great, plus Michael Ward in Ari Aster’s Competition title Eddington and Emma Mackey in French auteur Julia Ducournau’s Competition return, Alpha. O’Connor also stars in Kelly Reichardt’s art heist The Mastermind.
U2 rocker Bono is expected to be in Cannes for the Special Screenings premiere of Apple TV+ documentary Bono: Stories Of Surrender, directed by Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik.
Last year Andrea Arnold played in Competition with Bird. In 2023, UK filmmakers Ken Loach and Jonathan Glazer were selected with The Old Oak and The Zone Of Interest respectively. In 2022, there were none in Competition.
In recent years, UK-based female filmmakers in particular have found favour in Un Certain Regard – Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming A Guinea Fowl and Sandhya Suri’s Santosh played in 2024, plus Molly Manning Walker won the Un Certain Regard top prize for How To Have Sex in 2023 – however this year, there are none.
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