Element Pictures is delighted with today’s announcement that Paolo Sorrentino’s much anticipated English language debut This Must be the Place starring Academy Award winners Sean Penn and Frances McDormand will have its World Premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival running from 11 -22 May 2011. The film will play in Competition which is the most prestigious section at the festival. The last Irish film to screen in Competition at Cannes was the hugely successful The Wind that Shakes the Barley in 2006.

This is Element Picture’s fourth film in official selection at Cannes in recent years; in 2006 Ken Loach’s The Wind that Shakes the Barley won the Palme d’Or, in 2007 Lenny Abrahamson’s Garage won the CICAE Prize at Directors’ Fortnight and last year Alicia Duffy’s s All Good Children was also selected for the Director’s Fortnight section of the festival.

Speaking on the selection, Producers Ed Guiney & Andrew Lowe said ‘we are thrilled that This Must be the Place has been selected for competition in Cannes, the most prestigious film festival in the world. There is no greater vote of confidence in the film and in Ireland’s ability to produce world class films for the international audience. Element’s involvement in This Must be the Place was made possible by the backing of the Irish Film Board and Section 481 for which we are very grateful”

This Must be The Place follows Cheyenne a former rock star. At 50 he still dresses “Goth” and lives in Dublin off his royalties .The death of his father with whom he wasn’t on speaking terms brings him back to New York. He discovers his father had an obsession: to seek revenge for a humiliation he had suffered. Cheyenne decides to pick up where his father left off and starts a journey at his own pace across America.

The film was shot in Dublin and the US last year and features Irish actors Eve Hewson, Kerry Condon and Simon Delaney alongside a stellar US cast including Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch & David Byrne. Irish audiences will get the chance to see This Must be the Place when it goes on theatrical release later this year.

The film is a coproduction with Italy’s Indigo and Lucy Red and France’s ARP. Irish finance for the film came from the Irish Film Board and Section 481.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 14th, 2011 at 1:07 pm 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.