Wild Bunch to handle sales on Ken Loach drama due to shoot later this summer.

Film4 is in negotiations to join the backers of Ken Loach’s upcoming feature Jimmy’s Hall, which is due to shoot in Ireland at the end of this summer.

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The broadcaster has collaborated with Loach on a number of recent features including documentary The Spirit of ‘45, comedy Looking for Eric and 2007 drama It’s a Free World.

The film is understood to be about James Gralton, the Irish communist leader who set up a dance hall in Effrinagh, County Leitrim, which he used to disseminate his political views. After being opposed by the Catholic Church, Gralton was arrested and deported to the US in 1933.

The production is currently scouting locations in Leitrim and Sligo.

ScreenDaily first reported Loach’s new feature at Berlin’s EFM in February. Loach’s regular collaborators Paul Laverty and Rebecca O’Brien of Sixteen Films are on board as writer and producer, respectively.

Other backers include Element Pictures, the Irish Film Board, Why Not and sales outfit Wild Bunch, also Loach regulars.

Jimmy’s Hall will see Loach return to the theme of Irish independence seven years after his drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley picked up the Palme d’Or at Cannes.