Film4 wins two awards at this year's 74th Venice Film Festival

Both Film4 films selected to screen at the 74th Venice Film Festival came away with prizes when the Festival’s jury handed out its awards on Saturday evening:

Martin McDonagh won Best Screenplay for THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI.

Charlie Plummer collected the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress for his role in Andrew Haigh’s LEAN ON PETE.

The prizes marked a great start for both films, which world premiered in Competition on the Lido before heading onto Toronto Film Festival, with LEAN ON PETE also selected to screen at the prestigious Telluride Film Festival in between.

Director of Film4 Daniel Battsek commented: “All at Film4 are very proud that both these films have been recognised by the Venice Jury. On top of the Cannes awards given to Yorgos Lanthimos and Lynne Ramsay in May, and the strong British contingent at Toronto this week, it shows that British independent cinema is enjoying quite a moment on the world stage.”

Film4 have backed all three of writer/director Martin McDonagh’s feature films to date, including the Oscar-nominated IN BRUGES, plus his Oscar-winning short film SIX SHOOTER. THREE BILLBOARDS will close the London Film Festival on October 15 before its US launch on November 10th, and UK release on 12th January, 2018 via Fox Searchlight.

LEAN ON PETE will also release in 2018, via Curzon in the UK and A24 in the US. Film4 backed Haigh’s previous feature 45 YEARS, which was Oscar, BAFTA and BIFA nominated, and won British/Irish Film of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards.

Film4 has seven films selected at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival: Clio Barnard’s DARK RIVER, Sebastián Lelio’s DISOBEDIENCE and Michael Pearce’s BEAST all make their World Premieres at TIFF, alongside THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER from director Yorgos Lanthimos and Rungano Nyoni’s debut feature I AM NOT A WITCH, both of which screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May, plus THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI and LEAN ON PETE following their bows at Venice.

About Film4
Film4 is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division, which develops and co-finances films and has an established track record for working with the most distinctive and innovative talent in UK and international filmmaking. Film4 has developed and/or co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years - Academy Award-winners such as Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Asif Kapadia’s Amy, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady, in addition to critically-acclaimed award-winners such as Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, Todd Haynes’ Carol, Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years, Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Shane Meadows’ This is England, Yann Demange’s 71, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and David Mackenzie’s Starred Up.

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