Dublin-based Keeper Pictures, formerly known as Blinder Films, has a strong presence in Cannes, with producer Evan Horan participating in EFP’s Producers On The Move, and Cara Holmes’ documentary Lesbian Lines highlighted as part of Cannes Docs.
The latter is about a network of underground telephone helplines set up by a community of Irish lesbians.
Keeper’s eclectic international co-production slate also includes Nanouk Leopold’s drama Whitetail, with the Netherlands’ Circe Films and Kaap Holland Films and Belgium’s Savage Films, now in post and Sophie Fiennes’ third documentary collaboration with philosopher Slavoj Žižek The Pervert’s Guide To Utopias, with the UK’s P Guide, Slovenia’s Spok Films, Netherlands’ Film Kitchen, and Norway’s Mattima Films, also in post.
The development slate includes Aislinn Clarke’s genre film Thomas, with David Lancaster’s Los Angeles outfit Rumble and Protagonist Pictures, as well as The Colony, based on Audrey Magee’s novel of the same name, adapted by Mark O’Halloran, producing with Pippa Cross of the UK’s CrossDay productions.
There’s also Nathan Fagan’s 1970s-set psychological horror, Let Your Body Speak, and Hugh Mulhern’s post-apocalyptic action film The Druid. The latter is a co-production with Julia Godzinskaya and Sophie Vicker’s UK outfit Meduza.
The Oddity and Mr Malcom’s List outfit was co-founded as Blinder Films in 2006 by Katie Holly. She continues to head up the company and oversaw the 2023 re-brand to Keeper Pictures. Across the past 20 years, Holly has seen “huge growth” both in the Irish industry, and in her company. “We’ve gone through a lot of change, and we’ve grown up,” she said.
The outfit now has a 10-strong team, including a development executive based in the UK, Emma Keaveney, and has expanded in the past year with a head of production.
“Costs have increased a lot, particularly because of a lot of incoming [international] production,” said Holly. “Trying to do a local Irish project can be more challenging. I brought in a head of production, Lisa Kelly, just over a year ago, and it’s been transformational for us. It can be a challenge to crew up at the moment, but she has such great relationships.”
The company works between the €3m and €15m mark, with a focus on “optimistic” projects across a range of genres.
“There are companies that focus on comedy or focus on genre, and you can see there’s a benefit to that in terms of their business model, because they have the same relationships, where sometimes you’re reinventing when you move between genres,” said Holly. “But I think for us, we are fans first, and we love a range of films, we want to make sure that we’re able to do them all.
“Something that is uniting [between projects] is we’d never do something that’s just unremittingly dark or bleak or has a terrible view of humanity. That’s not in our DNA. Things need to have an optimistic, hopeful view of the world.”
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