EXCLUSIVE: Welsh hit and UK international Oscar hopeful Effi O Blaenau has been picked up for international sales by MetFilm Sales, which will launch at the TIFF market.
Starring Leisa Gwenllian in a breakout role, Marc Evans’ (Mr Burton) film drew strong notices this summer, especially for its lead. Released in UK cinemas mid June, the movie has become the highest-grossing Welsh language film ever at the box office, amassing $300k off a high of only 31 screens.
The film follows Effi, “a young woman in North Wales grappling with unemployment, heavy drinking, and a repetitive loop of clubbing and hangovers”. The Guardian described the film as “blistering” and its lead as a “force of nature”.
Adapted from Gary Owen’s praised monodrama Iphigenia in Splott, which was staged extensively across Wales, England and internationally, the film is produced by Branwen Cennard, who also led the translation of Owen’s original text. Executive producers are Catrin Cooper and Gwenllian Gravelle.
Pic is an S4C presentation of a Tarian Production developed and funded by the S4C Commercial Content Fund and co-funded by the Welsh Government via Creative Wales.
The film is considered a live contender to rep the UK for Best International Film. Among expected rivals to rep UK are Film 4-backed Sundance drama Filipiñana, which already has U.S. distribution. But that film could also represent Philippines or Singapore.
Met Film Sales’ current slate includes Tom Nicoll’s Salvation, set to have its world premiere at Toronto, revenge western Lluest directed by Gareth Bryn, which is currently in post-production, and Samuel Abrahams’ Lady starring Sian Clifford, which is currently on release in the UK. The non-scripted slate includes Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazic’s To Hold a Mountain, winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance earlier in the year, and recently announced Boatbuilders, directed by Luke Lorentzen, which is set to world premiere at Venice.
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