EXCLUSIVE: Vertigo Releasing has acquired UK and Ireland distribution rights to Rhys Marc Jones’ mystery drama Black Church Bay, starring Tom Cullen and Heartstopper lead Joe Locke.
The UK-Irish writer-director’s debut feature is about a conflicted man (Cullen) whose world unravels after an intimate encounter with a younger man. The film explores the lengths to which a person will go in order to hide their true self, and the cast also includes Marli Siu and Rakie Ayola.
Black Church Bay is set in and shot in Anglesey, North Wales last year. It is produced by Scotland-based Alex Polunin for Ossian International and Tristan Goligher for London-based The Bureau.
The film was developed with BBC Film, iFeatures and Cannes’ Cinéfondation Résidence. Production financiers are BBC Film, Ffilm Cymru Wales and Screen Scotland, as well as private financiers, LA-based Manzini Films, UK-based Rhyza and Kamila Serkebaeva, and Brazil-based Daniel Staut.
Vertigo plans to release the film in UK-Ireland cinemas later this year. The deal was completed at the recent Unifrance Rendez-Vous between Taylor Haldane, acquisitions and sales manager at Vertigo, and Clémentine Hugot, head of sales at The Bureau Sales.
Haldane said: “The team and I were drawn to the richly atmospheric and complex world Rhys has created in his thrilling debut feature.”
The Bureau Sales will pursue further deals on the title at EFM. Its Berlin slate also includes Jean-Paul Salome’s recent French box office hit The Money Maker and Vincent Munier’s documentary Whispers In The Woods, and it will hold a market premiere screening of Rubika Shah’s documentary The Mad Dog Of Europe.
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