Picturehouse Entertainment, Element Pictures Distribution announce joint acquisition of Yorgos Lanthimos’ THE LOBSTER

World Premiere set for Competition in this year’s Cannes Film Festival

Picturehouse Entertainment and Element Pictures Distribution today announced their joint acquisition of all UK/Irish rights to Yorgos Lanthimos’ THE LOBSTER.  The film will have its World Premiere in Competition at this year’s 68th Cannes Film Festival.  THE LOBSTER is the highly anticipated English language debut of internationally acclaimed Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, who thrilled and shocked audiences worldwide with DOGTOOTH (2009) and ALPS (2011), and is set for release across the UK and Ireland this Autumn.

Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Léa Seydoux, John C Reilly, Ben Whishaw, Olivia Colman and Michael Smiley, THE LOBSTER is a blackly funny love story set in a near future where finding love is a matter of life or death.

“We are very proud to have worked with Yorgos and his key creative collaborators, together with the extraordinary cast and crew and our brilliant co-producers assembled to make this most unique film.  We are particularly pleased that THE LOBSTER has received the honour of being selected for Competition at Cannes this year, which it richly deserves.  We look forward to working with our colleagues in Picturehouse to ensure that THE LOBSTER reaches the widest audience possible in the UK and Ireland when we release it later in the year” said Andrew Lowe, Director of Element Pictures Distribution.

"I'm delighted we have an opportunity to work on this innovative and truly original film. I've wanted to work with Yorgos since having my head thoroughly scrambled by DOGTOOTH in Cannes six years ago. The fact this is the first film Picturehouse Entertainment have gone into Cannes Competition with makes it that much more special. Believe the hype, it's an extraordinary film." said Clare Binns, Director of Programming and Acquisitions for Picturehouse Entertainment.

THE LOBSTER was acquired by Element Pictures Distribution and Picturehouse Entertainment at script stage and will be released as a joint venture between both companies, who already enjoy a close relationship through their respective exhibition interests in the UK and Ireland.   It is the first time both companies have worked together to distribute a film and marks their growing ambitions in distribution.Shot at Parknasilla in Co. Kerry in Spring 2014, THE LOBSTER is written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou and produced by Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Ceci Dempsey and Yorgos Lanthimos. Executive Producers are Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross and Sam Lavender with Isabel Davis as the lead executive for the BFI Film Fund.

The film was developed by Element and Irish finance for the film came from the Irish Film Board with Rory Gilmartin as the lead executive for the IFB.

It is also the first film to be supported with BFI’s minority co-production funding.

Film4, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/ the Irish Film Board, Eurimages, the BFI Film Fund, the Netherlands Film Fund and  the Greek Film Centre present in association with Protagonist Pictures, with the participation of CANAL+, CINE+ and Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères et du Développement International, Institut Français an Element Pictures, Scarlet Films, Faliro House, Haut et Court, Lemming Film co-production in association with Limp and with the support of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.

Twitter: @LobsterFilm

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About Picturehouse Entertainment
Picturehouse Entertainment is the distribution arm of Picturehouse Cinemas, the owner and operator of 21 Picturehouse Cinemas and programming agent for a further 42 venues across the UK.

Picturehouse Entertainment’s feature film releases include BAFTA winner The Imposter, Shane Meadows’ The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology featuring Slavoj Žižek, Jeremy Saulnier’s acclaimed thriller Blue Ruin and award-winning docu-drama 20,000 Days On Earth featuring Nick Cave and directed by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard.

Picturehouse Entertainment is the leading global distribution company for Event Cinema and has been at the forefront of the industry since its inception. Most recently the company saw huge success with Monty Python Live (mostly), beamed live from the O2 into over 2,000 cinemas across 52 countries around the world.

Picturehouse Entertainment represents regular partners the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Bolshoi Ballet, the National Theatre and Glyndebourne as well as releasing an eclectic range of one-off events such as Stephen Fry’s talks, The Fry Chronicles and More Fool Me, and David Bowie is happening now transmitted from the V&A’s sell-out exhibition and the record breaking Doctor Who Day of the Doctor.

Element Pictures Distribution
Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney run Ireland’s leading independent film distribution company Element Pictures Distribution, handling Studio Canal’s slate in Ireland as well as direct acquisitions. EPD has enjoyed both critical and commercial success with a number of its releases including Sundance Winner His & Hers, Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did and Gerard Barrett’s Pilgrim Hill. In 2011, EPD released The Guard (John Michael McDonagh), which became the highest grossing independent Irish films at the Irish box office.  Other notable releases include the award-winning Garage, Jerzy Skolimowski’s Essential Killing, Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank starring Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson and Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ken Loach’s Jimmy’s Hall.

Current and future releases include the Sundance prize winning Glassland starring Jack Reynor, Will Poulter and Toni Collette and Yorgos Lanthimos’ first English language film, The Lobster starring Rachel Weisz, Colin Farrell and John C. Reilly.  Element Pictures operates an Irish online video on demand platform, Volta.ie, which focuses on the finest of Irish and international films. Additionally, Element runs and operates the Light House Cinema, one of Dublin’s premiere art house cinemas.

Element Pictures is Ireland’s leading feature film and television drama production companies.  Films produced in 2014 include Room, an onscreen adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s award-winning bestselling novel directed by Lenny Abrahamson 11 Minutes by renowned Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski; A Date for Mad Mary, directed by Darren Thornton and Glassland, directed by Gerard Barrett. Previous productions include Abrahamson’s films Frank, What Richard Did, Garage and Adam & Paul, Ken Loach’s Jimmy’s Hall and The Wind that’s Shakes the Barley, Shadow Dancer (James Marsh), The Guard (John Michael McDonagh), This Must be the Place (Paolo Sorrentino), Omagh (Peter Travis) and Golden Lion winner The Magdalene Sisters (Peter Mullan). Element Pictures TV productions include the hit TV3 show Red Rock and the recent Charlie for RTE and Quirke for BBC and RTE.