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

Patrick McKenna, founder of Ingenious, has been selected as a member of the judging panel for this year’s Achates Philanthropy Prize. He will also chair the panel for the individual prize.

The Achates Philanthropy Prize is a national campaign to promote giving to the arts. It celebrates businesses, individuals and trusts that have supported culture for the first time within the last 12 months, with the aim of encouraging cultural organisations to engage more with first-time donors to advance the arts.

There are two awards, one for a business and one for an individual or trust. The winners will be appointed as custodian of one of the two prize sculptures for a year, while their nominating cultural organisation will receive a £5,000 donation from the Achates Philanthropy Foundation.

The 2019 Call for Entries opens on Monday 1 July, and both Awards will be presented at a special event at Rich Mix on Tuesday 19 November 2019.

I am delighted to join the panel of judges for the 2019 Achates Philanthropy Prize and to chair the panel for the individual prize. The overall level of public subsidy going to the arts and culture sector has fallen by some 30% over the last decade. Against this background cultural leaders are becoming ever more entrepreneurial in their approaches to revenue generation, but for most organisations this still leaves a significant funding gap to be filled by private giving. It is therefore excellent that the Achates Prize encourages the emergence of new philanthropists and I’m glad to be a part of it this year.

Patrick McKenna

Founder at Ingenious

For more information and to find out how to apply, please visit: www.achates.org.uk.

A number of Ingenious titles were acquired for US distribution at the recent Cannes Film Festival

Sony Pictures Classics bought After The Wedding and are planning an August release with an awards campaign for both Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore. The film was produced by Magritz Productions.

Sony Pictures Classics have also bought The Song of Names. The film is likely to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and should be released in the US prior to Christmas in order to qualify for an awards run. Riba Productions produced the film.

The US distributor Bleecker Street has acquired rights to Dream Horse and Warner Bros has the UK. A number of other studios are jostling to acquire further international rights. The film is produced by Popara Films and will soon finish shooting in Wales.

Lionsgate has bought US rights to The Doorman which is currently filming in Romania. The film is produced by Gora Films.

The first film from Solstice Studios, with whom Ingenious Media has a strategic partnership, was launched for international sales. Academy Award winner Russell Crowe stars in this psychological thriller, which takes an ordinary, everyday incident to a terrifying conclusion in telling the story of a mother who leans on her car horn at the wrong time, to the wrong guy. Road rage doesn’t begin to describe what he’s about to do to her and everyone she knows. The film, titled Unhinged, is being produced by Burek Films and will commence filming in July. Solstice is targeting a release date in the US in the autumn of 2020. Click here to read more.

A number of trailers for forthcoming Ingenious backed productions have now been released:

The Informer, produced by Maddem Films, will be released by Aviron Pictures in the US in August and by Warner Bros in the UK. You can watch the trailer here.

Judy, produced by Confit Productions, will be released at the end of September in the US by Roadside Attractions with a likely awards campaign for Renee Zellweger as the eponymous heroine.

Blinded by the Light, produced by Rakija Films, was the subject of a bidding war at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and will be released globally in August. EOne has a trailer for UK audiences and New Line/Warner Bros has created their own for US audiences.

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.

UK High Streets have reached a ‘tipping point’, according to a recently published parliamentary inquiry report.

The shift to online sales (now accounting for 20% of all retail sales), the upward revaluation of business rates, previous planning policies, and local authority financing constraints are impacting retailers and high streets up and down the country, and across all sectors.

As concerns have intensified about the state of our high streets, the Government is slowly starting to take action. Urban regeneration is set to be a significant area of policy focus over the next few years, as the high street is rightly seen as a vital component of the UK’s economic and social fabric. In consequence, property investors should be seeing this as an emerging opportunity.

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.

We are delighted that Ingenious-backed Mindful Education, a London-based education technology company, took home the Study Resource of the Year award at this year’s PQ Awards 2019, held on Tuesday 26 February.

The PQ Awards have been a fixture in the accountancy industry calendar for over 15 years. Hosted in London’s West End, the awards bring the sector together to celebrate the successes of part-qualified accountants, and those that help them achieve their goals.

The shortlist for this year’s award included Kaplan Financial, the London School of Business and Finance, and BPP Learning Media.

Judges for the award cited the impressive pass, merit and distinction rates achieved by colleges who use Mindful Education’s accounting solutions, as well as how Mindful Education were making flexible study possible for learners.

Both learners and employers are increasingly asking for high-quality, flexible courses that provide the knowledge and skills required to progress in the workplace.

Start-up education companies like us have a vital role to play in this so we are thrilled to have been recognised.

Mark Mckenna

Managing Director of Mindful Education

Mindful Education was shortlisted last year and goes one better in 2019.

The judges were impressed at how their solution reduces in-class time by 60% and recognised the impact Mindful Education has made in the sector since 2017. They felt this is a product that works for both learners and colleges.

Graham Hambly

Editor of PQ Magazine

Mindful Education partners with colleges across the UK to deliver media-rich professional courses in accounting, management, law and human resources.