Article by Eithne Shortall, The Sunday Times. See the original here

Zonad, an Irish movie that struggled to strike a chord with domestic critics and cinema audiences, has proved a success at the annual Cannes film festival, which ends today.

The low-budget comedy, directed by John Carney, maker of the Oscar-winning Once, and starring Simon Delaney, has secured international distribution. American critics were more impressed than their Irish colleagues when Zonad was screened at the Tribeca film festival in New York last month, then a deal for worldwide distribution was announced last week after it was scooped up by The Works International.

The film tells the story of an escaped convict who fools an Irish village into believing he is an extraterrestrial. The company plans to sell it in all territories. “I think the zany humour can travel well, so we hope to sell it everywhere. The comedy is multi-layered but much of it is physical rather than verbal, which means it has a better chance to cross cultural borders. Everyone finds the central concept hilarious,” said Carl Clifton, managing director of The Works International.

Three other films with Irish interest also managed to tie down deals at Cannes. The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Hotel Rwanda, closed several international sales despite still being in the post-production stage.

The makers of the movie, shot in Galway last year, held a 15-minute promotional screening at the festival. That was enough to secure distribution deals across Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

All Good Children, a film about two Irish brothers sent to France after their mother’s death, and This Must Be the Place, an Irish co-production starring two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn, were also picked up.

Cinéart bought the rights to the Benelux distribution of both movies. This Must Be the Place, which will be shot in Dublin this summer, is now likely to confirm a wider release after the festival.

Trade press reports from the world’s best-known film festival said the recession had made it more difficult for producers to secure distribution rights for films.

Ed Guiney, a producer on Zonad, said the film industry has been hit as much as any other sector and that selling movies was a lot easier a few years ago. He said that he had been “a little underwhelmed” by the Irish public’s response to Zonad but was confident that it would do well abroad.

The Irish Film Board said that this year’s Irish pavilion had seen strong international interest in the country as a shooting location from directors and producers.

Ireland has previously had success at Cannes with Lenny Abrahamson’s Garage picking up the Art and Essai prize in 2007 and The Wind That Shakes the Barley winning the Palme d’Or, the highest honour, in 2006.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 11:34 am and is filed under 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.