Irish Abroad: You’re Ugly Too and The Lobster head to Motovun Film Festival, Croatia

Two Irish films are heading to Croatia at the end of the month to play at the 18th Motovun Film Festival. Mark Noonan’s You’re Ugly Too and Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster will compete.

You’re Ugly Too is fresh of a win for Best First Irish Feature at the Galway Film Fleadh, and sees Aidan Gillen play a man who is released from prison on compassionate leave to care of his niece Stacey, after the death of her mother. The pair head on a road trip to find a fresh start in the sleepy surroundings of the Irish midlands. You’re Ugly Too was produced by John Keville and Conor Barry for Savage Productions and was written and directed by Mark Noonan. The film was funded by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board. It is released by Element Pictures in Irish cinemas on July 24th.

The Lobster is a surreal, romantic drama and winner of the Jury Prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. It stars Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz with a supporting cast including Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, John C.Reilly, Olivia Colman and Ashley Jensen. The film is a love story set in the near future where single people, according to the rules of The City, are arrested and transferred to The Hotel.  There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days.  If they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into The Woods. The Lobster was written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou and produced by Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Ceci Dempsey and Yorgos Lanthimos. Executive Producers are Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross and Sam Lavender with Isabel Davis as the lead executive for the BFI Film Fund. The film was developed by Element and Irish finance for the film came from the Irish Film Board with Rory Gilmartin as the lead executive for the IFB. Element Pictures releases the film in Ireland on October 16th.

The Motovun Film Festival runs July 25 to 29th in the small town of Motovun, Croatia. The festival is entirely dedicated to films made in small studios and independent film productions.