IFC Films has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Haifaa Al-Mansour's Mary Shelley, a biopic of the Frankenstein author, co-produced by Parallel Films. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.
The film stars Elle Fanning as Mary and Douglas Booth as Percy Shelley, alongside Maisie Williams, Bel Powley, Joanne Froggatt and Tom Sturridge, and Stephen Dillane. Al-Mansour directs from a script co-written with Emma Jensen and Conor McPherson. Alan Moloney and Ruth Coady produce for Parallel Films, with Amy Baer of Gidden Media.
Funding for Mary Shelley came from the Irish Film Board, the BFI, Hanway Films, the Luxembourg Film Fund, Ingenious Media, and Sobini Films.
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Out of Orbit has completed principal photography in Northern Ireland on its debut feature thriller The Dig. A murderer returns home to help the victim’s father find closure…and the body.
The film stars Moe Dunford (Patrick’s Day, Vikings), Emily Taaffe (Beast, Paula), Francis Magee (Jimmy’s Hall, Rogue One) and Lorcan Cranitch (The Legend of Longwood, Love, Rosie).
The screenplay, written by Belfast native Stuart Drennan, was developed through Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus scheme with Lottery funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Brothers Ryan and Andrew Tohill will direct while Brian J. Falconer will produce.
The Tohill Brothers have directed several short films together. Their most recent short, Insulin, was a prequel for the critically acclaimed The Survivalist. Their previous short, Eyeline, was very well received on the festival circuit winning the Up and Coming Filmmakers award at the Cornwall Film Festival and was a finalist in the Soho Rushes Shorts in 2012.
As well as directing, Ryan has worked in the art Department of several TV productions. Andrew has worked in post-production for several years. As well as editing their own shorts he has also worked on numerous television dramas and documentaries. This will be their first feature-length film as directors
Brian J. Falconer, is a 2016 BFI Vision Award recipient, a 2015 Guiding Lights participant, producer of the 2016 Royal Television Society (RTS) award-winning We Are You and the 2015 BAFTA award winning and Academy Award® nominated short film Boogaloo and Graham.
The production team also includes Angus Mitchell (The Good Man) as Director of Photography and Production Designer Ashleigh Jeffers (The Frankenstein Chronicles).
The Dig shot entirely in Northern Ireland with funding from the Northern Ireland Screen Fund supported by Invest NI and from post-production house, Yellow Moon.
Previous feature films to come through Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus scheme include Chris Baugh and Brendan Mullin’s Bad Day for the Cut, Stephen Fingleton’s The Survivalist and Michael Lennox’s A Patch of Fog.