Lorcan Finnegan’s new Irish film, Vivarium, has been selected to screen in Competition as part of Critics’ Week (La Semaine de la Critique) at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
Vivarium will compete for the two prizes given by La Semaine de la Critique’s Jury headed this year by Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra: the Nespresso Grand Prize for Best Film and the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for Best Actor or Actress.
Vivarium marks the second feature from Irish director Lorcan Finnegan following his 2016 debut Without Name, which received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film stars Imogen Poots (I Kill Giants, Sweet Virginia) and Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Café Society) as a young couple who follow a mysterious estate agent and get trapped in a strange housing development. The film is scripted by Garret Shanley, who also wrote the script for Finnegan’s Without Name.
I’m delighted to be premiering Vivarium at Critics’ Week in Cannes. It’s an honour to be selected and a perfect launch for the film. None of this would have been possible without the creative and financial backing of Screen Ireland, who have been a wonderful and collaborative supporter of my work over the years.
Lorcan Finnegan, Director
I would like to congratulate Lorcan and the team at Fantastic Films on this wonderful achievement. Cannes is undoubtedly the most prestigious film festival in the world and presents an iconic platform to launch the film on the global stage.
Screen Ireland is proud to have supported Lorcan down through the years, first with his critically acclaimed 2011 short film Foxes and in 2016 with Without Name, funded under our Catalyst Project. Lorcan is a director of singular talent and we are excited to see what the future holds following Vivarium’s world premiere on the Croisette next month.
James Hickey, Chief Executive- Screen Ireland
Fantastic Films is delighted that Vivarium has been selected for Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival. Producing Vivarium was a long and winding road and we are looking forward to screening Lorcan Finnegan’s wonderful film at this prestigious event.
Brendan McCarthy, Producer – Fantastic Films
Vivarium is a European co-production with Brendan McCarthy and John McDonnell producing for Dublin’s Fantastic Films along with Jean-Yves Roubin of Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Alexander Brøndsted of Denmark’s Pingpong Film, with XYZ Films executive producing and handling global sales.
Vivarium is supported by Screen Ireland, Creative Europe MEDIA, Wallimage, BE TV/ VooTV, the Danish Film Institute, the Copenhagen Film Fund and Eurimages.
The 2019 Cannes Film Festival takes place from 14 – 25 May.