01/03/2010

BAFTA-winning director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s latest film Micmacs [+see also:
trailer
film profile] will hit more screens thanks to UK Film Council funding.

E1 Entertainment received £100,000 to widen the distribution of Jeunet’s caper comedy, funding publicity and advertising, and the purchase of an additional ten prints and 20 digital deliveries, resulting in the film being released in 85 cinemas.

The film follows a gentle video shop assistant ends up with a bullet permanently lodged inside his brain after a gangland shootout. Starring Dany Boon, André Dussollier and Nicolas Marié, Micmacs is in cinemas from 26 February.

Action-packed thriller Shank, the debut feature film from British urban music video director Mo Ali, will also reach more audiences thanks to UKFC funding. Revolver Films received £100,000 to double the film’s March release from 40 to 80 sites. Shank follows Junior and his gang the Paper Chaserz, who trade in “munchies” and stay away from territory disputes, but get dragged into gang warfare when a food delivery leads to conflict and is released on 26 March.

The UKFC also made smaller disbursements in the £5000 range to Jessica Hausner’s Lourdes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile] and Mia Hansen-Love’s The Father of My Children [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mia Hansen-Løve
film profile] (Artificial Eye); Hans Christian Schmid’s Storm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexander Fehling
interview: Hans-Christian Schmid
film profile] (LUX Prize 2009 competition), Giles Borg’s 1234 [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Michael Whyte’s No Greater Love and Nick Whitfield’s Skeletons (Soda Pictures); Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile] (Verve Pictures); Warwick Thornton’s Samson and Delilah (Trinity Filmed Entertainment); David L Williams’ Beyond the Pole (Shooting Pictures); and Bernard Rose’s The Kreutzer Sonata (Axiom Films).