Irish feature Herself will receive its UK premiere as an official selection of the 64th BFI London Film Festival. One of only thirteen films selected to screen physically. This year’s BFI London Film Festival will run in a select number of independent cinemas across the UK as well as online.
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!, The Iron Lady) and starring Clare Dunne, Herself had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year where Clare was hailed “a revelation” by Indiewire and lauded for her “blisteringly intense central performance” by The Times.
It is such an honour for all of us on the crew and cast of Herself to have this film chosen as one of the only physically screened movies at the prestigious BFI London Film Festival. BFI were so incredibly supportive in the journey to its completion, and I am thrilled that they have chosen our story to have its UK premiere in Southbank this October. I’m excited to see the reaction to Phyllida’s work in her home country, as she was a force of nature not only as a director but in her belief that this story could resonate universally. I hope the audiences who attend, experience the resilience and defiant love we discovered in all that can be achieved by even the smallest community, or as we call it in the movie, a ‘meitheal’…especially in these strange and uncertain times.
Clare Dunne, Co-writer and lead
Herself follows the story of Sandra (Clare Dunne), who on the surface of it, is a young Mum struggling to provide her two young daughters with a warm, safe, happy home to grow up in. Beneath the surface, Sandra has a steely determination to change their lives for the better and when it becomes clear that there are no other options left to her, she decides to build it herself from scratch, drawing together a community of friends to support her. Supporting cast includes Emmy nominated Harriet Walter (Succession, Killing Eve)and Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones).
Co-written by Clare Dunne and Malcolm Campbell (What Richard Did), Herself was co-developed by Element Pictures and Merman and is produced by Academy Award® nominee Ed Guiney (The Favourite, The Lobster) and Rory Gilmartin (Rosie) for Element, together with BAFTA award-winning actress, writer, producer and director Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe, Divorce). Clelia Mountford (Motherland, There She Goes) from Merman, Element Pictures’ Andrew Lowe, BBC Films’ Rose Garnett, Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Mary Burke from the BFI and Lesley McKimm from Screen Ireland are executive producers. The film was developed with BBC Films and Screen Ireland and production was backed by Screen Ireland, BBC Films and the BFI (with National Lottery funding).
The 2020 BFI London Film Festival will take place physically and digitally October 7th to 18th. Herself will be released in Irish and UK cinemas soon. Unfortunately due to the Covid-19 pandemic the original release of the film had to be pushed.