We are proud to announce that four films produced by investee companies managed by Ingenious will showcase at the forthcoming Sundance Film Festival:

Ingenious Media is proud to announce that seven films produced by investee companies managed by Ingenious will showcase at the forthcoming Venice and Toronto Film Festivals.The Burnt Orange Heresy, produced by Achille Productions, has been selected as the closing film of the Venice Film Festival and will also screen at the Toronto Film Festival. Starring Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, Donald Sutherland and Mick Jagger this noir thriller tells the story of an art critic who is hired to steal a painting from one of the most enigmatic artists. The operation spins out of control as he becomes consumed by his own greed and insecurity.

Read more about The Burnt Orange Heresy

Seberg, produced by Nelly Films, narrates the true story of an FBI Agent, played by Jack O’Connell, who is assigned to investigate the iconic actress Jean Seberg (Kristen Stewart) when she becomes embroiled in the tumultuous civil rights movement in the late sixties in Los Angeles. The film will hold its World Premiere on the first Friday of the Venice Film Festival and subsequently at Toronto. 

Read more about Seberg

Military Wives, produced by Koliko Films, stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan who start a military wives choir whilst their husbands are on a tour in Afghanistan. Music and laughter transform their lives as the women help each other overcome their fear for loved ones in combat. The film will hold its World Premiere at Toronto; 

Read more about Military Wives

Tim Roth and Clive Owen star in The Song of Names, produced by Riba Films, which will also premiere at Toronto. This emotional detective story is spread over two continents and half a century. Beneath the film’s stunning musical revelations burn the horror of a war and the lost souls extinguished from history.

Read more about The Song of Names

Dirt Music, produced by Pelgo Films, will premiere at Toronto. The films tells the story of a woman stranded in a relationship with a man she doesn’t love, in a small fishing village on the coast of Australia. An encounter with a local pariah results in an affair that dredges up secrets and changes all of their lives. Starring Kelly MacDonald and Garrett Hedlund, and from the producers of Brooklyn and Lion the story is based on the award-winning novel by Tim Winton. 

Read more about Dirt Music

As you may recall from previous issues, Watership Down, produced by Ingenious Broadcasting 14/15, fund company Eleos Productions Ltd, was nominated in multiple categories for an Emmy award. We are pleased to announce that on 5 May, Watership Down won the award for ‘ Outstanding Special Class Animation Programme.’

And Ingenious backed Black Summer is the most watched scripted show on Netflix

Black Summer, which dropped on Netflix on 11 April, produced by Diggy Productions Ltd, is the most watched scripted show in the UK on Netflix. Black Summer comes from the Ingenious Broadcasting EIS 8 fund and has received a lot of positive attention in a short amount of time.

The first two films from our strategic partnership with AGC studios are now in production through our Greenlight companies:

Voyagers, directed by Neil Burger who helmed the recent box office hit The Upside, stars Colin Farrell and Tye Sheridan. From the producers of the John Wick and Sicario films, Voyagers focuses on thirty children sent into space on a multi-generational mission to reach and populate a newly discovered planet. After the adult captain of the mission is mysteriously killed, the young crew descends in chaos, reverting to a primitive and tribal state of being, and giving into their most feral and animal desires. The film has started shooting in Romania. The EIS production company is Freecss Films Ltd.

The Secrets We Keep, stars Joel Kinnaman and Noomi Rapace. The Kirkhaus Films Ltd production is set amid a paranoid post-war upstate suburban New York, a woman encounters an eerily familiar figure from her past life, but is he really the man she thinks he is? She takes matters in her own hands and kidnaps him, setting in motion a series of memories and events that will change her whole perception of the trust.

Further films closed in Greenlight include:

What is Life Worth, starring Michael Keaton and Stanley Tucci, follows the efforts of a Washington lawyer put in charge of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. Throughout three years of pro bono work, he fights off the cynicism, bureaucracy and politics associated with administering government funds. In so doing, he discovers what life is worth. What is Life Worth is being produced by Wiffle Films Ltd.

Liam Neeson and his son Michael star in romantic comedy Made in Italy which is actor James D’Arcy’s directorial debut. A bohemian artist travels from London to Tuscany with his son to sell the house they inherited from his late wife. This rom-com is being produced by Rojovid Films Ltd.

Films recently closed in Ingenious Shelley companies include:

Sci-fi thriller Possessor, produced by Rakija Films Ltd, starring Sean Bean, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Andrea Riseborough. The film is directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the son of the legendary David Cronenberg. VOS is an agent for a secretive organization who uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people’s bodies, driving them to commit assassinations for the benefit of high-paying clients. Something goes wrong with a routine job and she soon finds herself trapped in the mind of a man whose appetite for violence rivals her own.

Action thriller The Doorman stars Jean Reno and Ruby Rose. The film involves a heist to steal priceless art from decades ago, a prestigious building housing New York’s elite over countless years, and a doorman… unlike any other. The Doorman is being produced by Gora Films Ltd.

After Cannes, we will be reporting US rights acquisitions on a number of our films.

At the beginning of March Ingenious Greenlight’s The Wedding Guest was released by IFC films. Bleecker Street opened Shelley’s Hotel Mumbai last weekend with a platform release on four screens, averaging a very solid $21,623 per theatre. The film will go wide this weekend to 800 screens. Also, Ingenious Shelley’s Out of Bluehas opened in the UK and US.

Watership Down has been nominated for the 46th annual Daytime Emmy Awards which takes place on 5 May 2019. The Ingenious Broadcasting production has been nominated in the following categories:

Watership Down was produced by Eleos Production Ltd. and has the joint highest nominations for an animated show.

We are proud to announce our backing for forthcoming film Dream Horse, starring Damian Lewis and Toni Collette. The film tells the true story of Jan Vokes (Collette) and husband Howard Davies (Lewis) living out their dream to breed a champion racehorse in Cefn Fforest, Wales. Filming will take place this spring.

The script was written by Bafta-winner Neil McKay and filming is being directed by Euros Lyn, who has previously worked on Doctor Who, Sherlock and Black Mirror.

Fellow backers include Film4, Ffilm Cymru Wales and the Welsh Government. Warner Bros has bought the UK distribution rights while Cornerstone Films will handle international sales.

Simon Pegg, Connie Nielsen and Lily Collins star in the White Comet Films Ltd. production, Inheritance which is filming in Alabama. This Shelley film is about a patriarch of a wealthy family suddenly passes away, leaving his wife and daughter with a shocking secret inheritance that threatens to unravel and destroy their lives.

Popara Films Limited are producing Greenlight’s Dream Horse starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis. Euros Lyn, director of Sherlock, Happy Valley and Black Mirror, is helming the true story about a woman’s dream to breed and raise a champion racehorse on the allotment of her modest Welsh village.Little Miss Sunshine star Collette is taking the lead role of Jan Vokes, a middle-aged barmaid at a working men’s club who recruits her initially reluctant husband Brian and local accountant Howard Davies (Lewis) to help her bring together a syndicate of local people to breed a foal – which they name Dream Alliance. On the racetrack, he proves himself to be more than a match for the multi-million pound racehorses he comes up against, transforming the lives of those around him. Warner Bros will distribute in the UK.

Three Ingenious productions have been shortlisted for a Broadcast Award in the ‘Best Pre-School Programme’ category. The Broadcast Awards recognise the UK’s most groundbreaking and successful content, rewarding creativity, quality and originality.

The Ingenious programmes that have been shortlisted are:

Claude
Claude is a children’s animation that follows the humorous adventures of a beret-clad dog, based on the best-selling book series. The show has many stars appearing as loveable characters, from Simon Callow CBE who plays raconteur sock, Sir Bobblysock, to Jane Horrocks who plays Claude’s owner, Mrs Shinyshoes. Claude was first released in the UK in June 2018 on Disney Junior.

Pablo 
Pablo is an autistic boy who draws animal friends to help him through the challenges of daily life. It was first released in the UK in October 2017 on CBeebies and was recently nominated for a Children’s BAFTA in the ‘Digital’ category.

Waffle the Wonder Dog 
Waffle the Wonder Dog follows an adorable fluffy dog who can’t help but cause trouble and is on a crash course to cementing the Brooklyn-Bell blended family. The first series premiered on CBeebies in February 2017, with the second series beginning in July of this year. The show was recently also nominated for a Children’s BAFTA in the ‘Pre School – Live Action’ category.

Click here to see the full Broadcast Awards shortlist.