Ancestors

Source: Leanne Sullivan 

‘Ancestors’

EXCLUSIVE: Mister Smith Entertainment has acquired world sales for David Turpin’s Irish-UK directorial debut Ancestors, as the feature wraps its Dublin shoot.

Saipan’s Éanna Hardwicke, Shadow And Bone’s Jack Wolfe and Kneecap’s Jessica Reynolds star alongside Rupert Everett and Christina Hendricks in the love story, noir mystery and metaphysical fable.

A charismatic but vulnerable man, Beau searches 1980s London for his missing friend. Dream, reality, memory and history entwine, bringing him face-to-face with life, death and the beyond.

David Collins and Eamon Hughes produce through Ireland’s Samson Films with Miranda Ballesteros of the UK’s Lunatica. The project is financed by Screen Ireland and Irish asset management company BCP. Mister Smith head David Garrett previously worked with Collins on Oscar-winner Once.

The film’s soundtrack features original songs composed and performed by Wolfe and Turpin. Irish writer-director-musician Turpin’s previous credits as a screenwriter include 2020 Galway premiere The Winter Lake and 2017 Toronto Netflix title The Lodgers. 

“Ancestors begins as the mystery of a missing person, and becomes a journey into something deeper,” said Turpin. “It uses the language of dreams to confront the questions with which reason alone cannot help us. I think of it as a séance – reaching across the borders of the past and the next world, calling to the ancestors I could never know in life.”

“David’s script took our breath away when we first read it,” said producers Collins and Ballesteros. “With his unique vision and the blessing of a brilliant cast and team to bring the story to life, we think we have a very special film on our hands that we can’t wait to share.”

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