Picturehouse Entertainment has acquired U.K. rights to Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde’s “Animals,” which world premiered at Sundance. The feelgood female friendship drama stars Holliday Grainger (“Cinderella,” “My Cousin Rachel”) and Alia Shawkat (“Transparent,” “Arrested Development”).
The film, which is based on the novel of the same name by Emma Jane Unsworth, centers on two young Dublin women, Laura and Tyler, whose careers and lives remain on hold while they devote their time to partying hard. As they drift into their thirties, reality begins to bite, but the rebels will not be tamed so easily.
Variety’s review said: “Sophie Hyde’s generous, freewheeling film is a pleasingly disorderly addition to the still-underpopulated ranks of female friendship studies — eschewing both strict moral judgment and greeting-card sentimentality in its portrayal of two women with a firmer idea of what they don’t want in life than what they do.”
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Clare Binns, joint M.D. of Picturehouse, said: “[The film] is fresh, dynamic and obscenely hilarious, and a unique, unflinching take on contemporary womanhood. It has a truthfulness about the dilemmas we all face, and this mix of comedy and honesty makes Hyde one of the most fearless and exciting directors around.”
The film is produced by Sarah Brocklehurst, BAFTA nominated for “Black Pond,” with Rebecca Summerton and Hyde for Closer Productions, and Cormac Fox for Vico Films. It was developed with the assistance of Creative England and Screen Australia.
The pic will have its European premiere at the Sundance Film Festival: London on May 31.
Cornerstone Films is handling world sales and is co-repping North America with UTA.