Sean Penn movie selected for top movie competition…
Paolo Sorrentino’s much anticipated English language debut This Must be the Place starring Academy Award winners Sean Penn and Frances McDormand will have its World Premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival running from 11 -22 May 2011. The film will play in Competition which is the most prestigious section at the festival. The last Irish film to screen in Competition at Cannes was the hugely successful The Wind that Shakes the Barley in 2006.
Shot in Dublin and the US last year, the film features Irish actors Eve Hewson, (yes, Bono’s daughter!) Kerry Condon and Simon Delaney alongside a stellar US cast including Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirschand & David Byrne.
This Must be The Place follows Cheyenne a former rock star. At 50 he still dresses “Goth” and lives in Dublin off his royalties .The death of his father with whom he wasn’t on speaking terms brings him back to New York. He discovers his father had an obsession: to seek revenge for a humiliation he had suffered. Cheyenne decides to pick up where his father left off and starts a journey at his own pace across America.
This is the fourth film from Irish company Element Pictures chosen in official selection at Cannes in recent years; in 2006 Ken Loach’s The Wind that Shakes the Barley won the Palme d’Or, in 2007 Lenny Abrahamson’s Garage won the CICAE Prize at Directors’ Fortnight and last year Alicia Duffy’s s All Good Children was also selected for the Director’s Fortnight section of the festival.
Speaking on the selection, Producers Ed Guiney & Andrew Lowe said ‘we are thrilled that This Must be the Place has been selected for competition in Cannes, the most prestigious film festival in the world. There is no greater vote of confidence in the film and in Ireland’s ability to produce world class films for the international audience. Element’s involvement in This Must be the Place was made possible by the backing of the Irish Film Board and Section 481 for which we are very grateful”.