Ken Loach’s “Sorry We Missed You” and Jessica Hausner’s “Little Joe” have been selected to play in competition at Cannes. But buyers looking for more British-originated fare can head to the firmly established “Great 8” presentation of titles from the country’s up-and-coming filmmakers.
The Great 8 event is backed by the BFI, the British Council, BBC Films and Film4. U.S. buyers from Bleecker Street, Apple and IFC have attended previous editions, as have the likes of France-based The Jokers and Netherlands-based Cherry Pickers, and Transmission Films and Madman from Australasia.
This year the buyers at the sales-boosting event will get a best-of-British look at new films from writers and directors Simon Bird, Cathy Brady, Fyzal Boulifa, Hong Khaou, Rose Glass, Claire Oakley, Eva Riley, and Nick Rowland.
The 2019 lineup includes Rowland’s “Calm With Horses,” starring Cosmo Jarvis (“Lady Macbeth”) and Barry Keoghan (“Dunkirk”), which counts Michael Fassbender among its exec producers. “Days of the Bagnold Summer,” the directorial debut of “The Inbetweeners” star Bird, also makes the cut.
Oakley’s “Make Up,” starring Molly Windsor, is produced by Emily Morgan (“I Am Not a Witch”), who is already set for a busy Cannes as one of the cohort of 2019 EFP Producers on the Move.
Two of the films – Boulifa’s “Lynn + Lucy” and Riley’s “Perfect 10” – are being sold by French sales agents Charades and The Bureau, respectively.
The Great 8 are presented at the Gray d’Albion hotel on May 14.
Check out the full selection below.
“Calm With Horses”
Director: Nick Rowland
Sales: Altitude Films Sales
“Days of the Bagnold Summer”
Director: Simon Bird
Sales: Altitude Films Sales
“Lynn + Lucy”
Director/writer: Fyzal Boulifa
Sales: Charades
“Make Up”
Director/writer: Claire Oakley
Sales: Protagonist Pictures
“Monsoon”
Director/writer: Hong Khaou
Sales: Protagonist Pictures, Paradigm Talent Agency
“Perfect 10”
Director/writer: Eva Riley
Sales:The Bureau
“Saint Maud”
Director/writer: Rose Glass
Sales: Protagonist Pictures
“Wildfire”
Director/writer: Cathy Brady
Sales: Great Point Media