HALCYON PICTURES UNVEILS EXCITING NEW LINE UP ON THE CANNES CROISETTE

HALCYON PICTURES UNVEILS EXCITING NEW LINE UP ON THE CANNES CROISETTE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 15 May 2008

Fledgling UK distribution/production company Halcyon Pictures, founded by FUNNY GAMES Producer, Chris Coen in 2001, stretches its wings with the exciting announcement of 5 new titles for the upcoming 2008 slate through it’s distribution arm Halcyon Releasing.

The titles include the UK acquisition of Actor/Director Julie Delpy’s period thriller THE COUNTESS about the notorious countess Bathory starring Delpy, William Hurt, Daniel Brühl and Anamaria Marinca, who starred in last year’s Palme D’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks 2 Days. Both Hurt and Bruhl had already teamed with Delpy on her widely selling 2 Days in Paris. Delpy plays the real-life Hungarian aristocrat, Marinca is her confidante, Bruehl and Hurt co-star as a father and son torn apart by their relationship with the Countess. The film recounts the rise and fall of the notorious Countess Bathory who fell victim to love, conspiracy and her own murderous vanity.

On the announcement Chris Coen who is also executive producing THE COUNTESS said “I am so thrilled to announce THE COUNTESS as Halcyon first major pre-buy. Julie Delpy wrote a beautiful script and has surrounded herself with incredible talent. I could not think of a more suitable artist to bring this fascinating story to life.”

Halcyon have just acquired UK rights from QED for David Auburn’s THE GIRL IN THE PARK starring Sigourney Weaver, Kate Bosworth, Alessandro Nivola, Keri Russell and David Rasche. Enduringly traumatized by the disappearance of her 3-year-old daughter 15 years ago, Julia Sandburg (Weaver) has cut herself off from anyone once near and dear to her, including her husband Doug (Rasche) and her son Chris (Nivola), who tried for years to penetrate her wall of isolation and despair, without success. But when Julia meets Louise (Bosworth), a troubled young woman with a checkered past, all Julia old psychic wounds painfully resurface, as does her illogical and increasingly irrational hope that Louise may be the daughter she lost so long ago.

The first of the upcoming slate to hit the cinemas this summer is Tom McCarthy’s (The Station Agent) recent US box office indy smash, THE VISITOR, starring Richard Jenkins and Hiam Abbass. THE VISITOR follows the story of a college professor (Jenkins) who becomes embroiled in the lives of a young immigrant couple living in New York City. Struggling to deal with their individual lives in a changed world, their shared humanity is revealed in awkward, humorous and dramatic ways. The film which has already taken $2.7 m at the US box office seems set to become a summer sleeper hit when it’s released in the UK on 4 July.

Hot on the heels of THE VISITOR comes Israeli director Eran Riklis’s LEMON TREE in September starring Hiam Abbass. Based on a true story – Salma (Abbass), a Palestinian widow, takes a stand up against her new neighbour, the Israeli Defense Minister, when he moves into his new house opposite her lemon grove, on the green line border between Israel and the West Bank, and threatens to tear down the grove as an issue of national security. Riklis’s story of one woman’s struggle reflects the complex, dark and sometimes funny chaos of the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict.

Jonás Cuarón’s directorial debut AÑO UÑA, scheduled for release in the autumn, announces the arrival of a fresh Mexican filmmaking talent and latest addition to the Cuarón family. Experimental cinema at its best, AÑO UÑA is a touching and sweetly comic coming of age, love story told through a vacation photo-montage.

Halcyon recently released and produced Michael Haneke’s all-star US remake of his own provocative thriller, FUNNY GAMES starring Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, and Goran Dukic’s WRISTCUTTERS; A LOVE STORY.

Halcyon Pictures, Chris Coen’s UK based production company is delighted to announce the appointment of Camille Gatin as Head of Development. Gatin had previously been director of development at Intermedia UK.

For further information at Cannes from 16/5 please contact:

SWCP Sarah Wilby French mobile: +33 6 25 22 96 00 sarahwilby@mac.com or London office +44 20 7580 0222

Back 12.01.2009.