Molly Manning Walker, the English cinematographer-turned-filmmaker whose debut feature “How to Have Sex” won a prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, has signed with CAA for representation.
Penned and directed by Manning Walker, “How to Have Sex” world premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard where it won best prize and earned unanimous praise. The film follows three British teenage girls who go on a rites-of-passage holiday in sun-drenched Crete and find themselves navigating the complexities of sex, consent and self-discovery.
Variety‘s Guy Lodge described the film as “fresh, head-turning debut” that “lays out the minefield of sexual education and consent for a post-#MeToo generation, with a precision to its ambiguities that will draw gasps from its characters’ contemporaries and elders alike.” The movie was acquired by MUBI in multiple territories before debuting in Cannes. It will be released theatrically by MUBI on Nov. 3 in the U.K. and in early 2024 in the U.S..
Along with winning accolades at festivals around the world, “How to Have Sex” recently earned 13 British Independent Film Awards nominations, including Best British Independent Film, Best Director, and the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director. “How to Have Sex” was produced by Wild Swim’s Ivana MacKinnon (“Beast”) and Emily Leo (“Under the Shadow”), alongside Heretic’s Konstantinos Kontovrakis (“Triangle of Sadness”). Film4 and the BFI, awarding National Lottery funding, developed the project and financed the production, alongside mk2 Films. Executive producers are Farhana Bhula and Ben Coren for Film4, Kristin Irving for the BFI, Nathanaël Karmitz and Fionnuala Jamison for mk2 Films, Giorgos Karnavas for Heretic, and Phil Hunt and Compton Ross for Head Gear.
Manning Walker previously directed the short “Good Thanks, You?” which played at Cannes’ Critics Week, and “The Forgotten C” which was nominated for a BIFA.
As a cinematographer, Manning Walker has also been critically acclaimed, working on documentary, fiction, and advertising campaigns. Most recently, “Scrapper,” which she lensed, won this year’s Sundance’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize and a BIFA nomination for Best Cinematography.
She continues to be represented by Independent Talent.