EXCLUSIVE: Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s performance film The Extraordinary Miss Flower has inked distribution deals with Madman for Australia and New Zealand and Non-Stop for Scandinavia and the Baltics.
The news comes fresh off the film’s UK theatrical run via BFI Distribution. Madman is planning an August release and Non-Stop will release the title in its territories in the fall.
The Extraordinary Miss Flower brings to life the remarkable story of Geraldine Flower and the discovery of a suitcase of letters sent to her in the 1960s and 1970s that inspired acclaimed Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini to return to the studio. Described as “part film, part theatre, part fever dream”, the film takes the form of a series of specially designed performances by Torrini and her band combined with dramatic scenes and readings of letters from well-known actors and musicians.
Caroline Catz plays the starring role of Miss Flower while Richard Ayoade, Siggi Baldursson, Nick Cave, Alice Lowe, Mark Monero, Niall Murphy and Angus Sampson feature in supporting roles as well as the voice of Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
Forsyth and Pollard, the filmmaking duo behind BAFTA-nominated Nick Cave pic 20,000 Days on Earth, direct the project. The pair have worked collaboratively as artists and filmmakers since meeting at Goldsmiths in the mid-1990s. Their more recent performance films include Live from the Centre of the Earth, made during lockdown with Jarvis Cocker, and Deep England, a unique collaboration between Gazelle Twin and the electronic drone choir NYX.
The Extraordinary Miss Flower, which is still playing in select cinemas in the UK, was described by Deadline’s Damon Wise as “an exercise in channeling its subject rather than simply showing and telling” and that “it is destined to find an eager cult audience for its psychedelic charms”.
The project is backed by Distiller Music and was shot at Distillery II studio, near Bristol. Zoe Flower produced the film, and it is co-produced by Andy Starke. Sam Dyson, Ben Wheatley, Beth Earl and Anna Hildur Hildibrandsdottir are exec producers.
The film has played in a raft of international film festivals including its world premiere in competition at the London Film Festival, as well as Dublin, Glasgow, Jersey, Days of European Film and the upcoming Mediterrane Film Festival in Malta, Festival Soeurs Jumelles in Rochelle, the Revelation International Film Festival Perth and the See The Sound Festival in Cologne.
The Festival Agency is helping with festival bookings are curating some screenings and a performance this Autumn in Paris. More festivals will be announced in coming weeks.
The post ‘The Extraordinary Miss Flower’ Inks Raft Of International Distribution Deals appeared first on Deadline.
