UK-based Carnaby International and US companies CAA and Verve Ventures will be selling the international and North American rights respectively to Irish writer/director Alexandra McGuinness’ latest feature Highway.
Highway is a road movie, shot on location in New Mexico, and follows Heidi and Jane who live in a small desert town which has been bypassed by a bigger brighter world. Whilst Heidi is happy to daydream her time away in between shifts at the local diner, Jane strives for a life she thinks she deserves. After Jane suddenly disappears, Heidi is forced to take control and set out to find her friend, only to discover a world where reality and the borderless expanses of the desert intertwine.
The film stars Eiza Gonzalez (From Dusk to Dawn, Baby Driver) and Lucy Fry (Wolf Creek, Vampire Academy) in the lead roles, with support from Sheila Vand (Argo, 24: Legacy), Josh Hartnett (Pearl Harbour, Penny Dreadful), Christian Camargo (The Hurt Locker, Twilight), Christopher Jordan Wallace (Everything Must Go), and Irish actress Antonia Campbell Hughes (Albert Nobbs, The Canal). Gareth Munden, who worked with McGuinness on her feature debut Lotus Eaters, is DoP, with music from composer David Harrington, and editing by Mairead McIvor (Pilgrimage, Love Eternal). The film is in post-production at EGG Post in Dublin.
Highway is being produced by Anna O’Malley and Eamonn Cleary of TW Films and Dominic Wright for Ripple World Pictures, with Ripple World’s Jacqueline Kerrin as executive producer with Adam Stanhope and Graham Appleby for GCI Film. Financing comes from GCI Film, the Irish Film Board/Bord Scannán na hÉireann, and French film and TV lender Cofiloisirs, as well as the Section 481 and New Mexico tax credits.
CAA and Verve Ventures are co-repping North America with Carnaby International Sales & Distribution representing the Rest of the World. The deal was negotiated by Adam Stanhope and Dominic Wright on behalf of the producers and by Tim Grohne and Andrew Loveday on behalf of Carnaby International. The film will sell to prospective buyers at the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival this week.
Highway is a rare discovery and a great example of a film that defines with such intimacy, the boundaries in which friendships live or die. We look forward to presenting footage which will give distributors a first glimpse of Alexandra’s remarkable film.
Tim Grohne, President, International & Production – Carnaby International