Element Pictures, the company behind award winning films Garage, The Wind That Shakes The Barley and The Magdalene Sister, is in the running for another international film award with the announcement that their latest film, Essential Killing has been selected to compete for the prestigious Golden Lion at the 67th Venice Film Festival. The award, which ranks only behind an Oscar and Cannes’ Palme D’or in the film world, was last picked up by Element Pictures for The Magdalene Sisters in 2002.

Essential Killing, directed by veteran Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski, and starrring Vincent Gallo (ARIZONA DREAM, BUFFALL0 66) and Emmanuelle Seigner (THE DIVING BELL & THE BUTTERFLY,LA VIE EN ROSE), will have its world premiere screening at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, which takes place from September 1st-11th 2010.

Essential Killing is a provocative thriller that tells the story of an Afghan man, captured by American forces in Kabul, who finds himself transported to a nameless European country. He manages to escape into the vast frozen woodland, a world away from the desert home he knew. Forced into extreme survival mode, he must kill anyone who strays into his path.

The script was written by Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska, and produced by Skopia Film in co-production with Element Pictures. An Irish/Polish/Norwegian/Hungarian co-production, the film was partly funded by the Irish Film Board and was shot in Israel, Poland and Norway with the sound post-production in Ireland.

Speaking on behalf of Element Pictures, Producer Andrew Lowe said “ We are delighted that Venice is honouring Jerzy Skolimowski by selecting Essential Killing for competition, and we are particularly pleased for the small Irish crew who played a key creative role in the making of the film, together with Ardmore Sound who did such a wonderful job on the sound post production. This was all made possible by the support of the Irish Film Board, and in particular its Chief Executive, Simon Perry. The last time that Element Pictures was in Venice was in 2002 with The Magdalene Sisters, which went on to win the Golden Lion that year, so it is exciting to be back for the World Premiere of Essential Killing.”

Irish audiences will get an opportunity to see Essential Killing in cinemas when it goes on theatrical release later this year through Element Pictures Distribution.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 13th, 2010 at 10:58 am and is filed under Awards, Distribution, Festivals, Film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.