Writer and director Nathalie Biancheri’s Wolf will represent Ireland in the Official Selection of the 46th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Starring George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp, the film will receive its World Premiere at the festival in September, which will take place both in person and digitally, and be released in cinemas across the US on December 3rd and Irish cinemas in early 2022.
Starring George MacKay, Lily-Rose Depp, Paddy Considine and Eileen Walsh, Wolf was the first independent film supported by Screen Ireland to shoot during the COVID-19 pandemic once production safely resumed. Written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri, Wolf tells the story of Jacob, a boy who believes he’s a wolf trapped in a human body.
George MacKay’s Wolf encounters Lily-Rose Depp’s Wildcat in a radical behavioural reform institute. Unlike his teenage peers who progressively ‘renounce’ their animal selves, he gets further and further away from being ‘cured’. Given the chance to howl, to behave like a wolf, he feels liberated. The only respite to his ever-growing restlessness is Wildcat, a 22 year-old, enigmatic patient with whom he roams the clinic in the dead of night. The two form an improbable friendship that develops to infatuation. Can he renounce his true self, for love? Can he live life repressing who he is?
I could not be more proud to premiere Wolf at TIFF this year. It has been such a long journey, made even more challenging by the pandemic. I’m excited to share the film with the world and the incredible work of my cast and crew with our first audience at Toronto this September.
Nathalie Biancheri, Writer/Director
We are honoured to launch Wolf to the world from Toronto this year. We are very thankful to TIFF for giving us this terrific platform, to our distributor Focus Features and sales agent Bankside Films for their support and commitment. We’d also like to thank our partners Screen Ireland, Eurimages and the Polish Film Institute. We are thrilled that the tireless work of our incredible cast and crew is recognised by one of the world’s most prestigious festivals and we are so proud that our film is about to begin such an exciting journey.
Jessie Fisk and Jane Doolan, Producers
Wolf joins a roster of critically and commercially successful Irish films that have debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in recent years and gone on to make an impact on audiences internationally and at home, including the Academy Award-nominated Wolfwalkers, Cathy Brady’s critically acclaimed feature debut Wildfire, and the BAFTA-nominated Calm With Horses.
Wolf is produced by Jessie Fisk of Feline Films and Jane Doolan of Mammoth Films. The co-producers are Mariusz Wlodarski and Agnieszka Wasiak of Lava Films in Poland. Executive producers are Celine Haddad for Screen Ireland, Stephen Kelliher for Bankside Films, Phil Hunt and Compton Ross for Head Gear Films, the Polish Film Institute and Eurimages.
International sales handled by Bankside Films and domestic sales handled by Bankside Films and CAA. The 46th Toronto International Film Festival will take place 9 – 18 September, 2021.
Wolf will be released by Focus Features in theatres in the US on December 3rd 2021 and internationally in early 2022.