Mark Rylance-Led ‘Inland’ Acquired for International Sales by Wide Ahead of London Film Festival Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

Manori Ravindran
·3 min read

Mark Rylance-led thriller “Inland” has been picked up for international sales by Paris-based sales agent Wide ahead of its BFI London Film Festival premiere.

Produced by Black Twist Films, the film stars Rory Alexander, Mark Rylance and Kathryn Hunter and plays in the official selection of the U.K. festival.

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“Inland” is a modern folktale that explores the fractured identity of a young man after the mysterious disappearance of his mother. Guided by a father figure and old friends who care deeply, his journey through the dreamlike spaces of rural England brings him face to face with the loss that haunts him in ways he could never have expected.

The pic marks the directorial debut of director-screenwriter Fridtjof Ryder, and stars Eleanor Holliday, Alexander Lincoln, Nell Williams and Shaun Dingwall. It is produced by Henry Richmond, Louis Paine and Ryder, in association with Twenty 20 Media, Fablemaze, Fatcontman, Dva Films, Shakespeare Road and Zebrafish Media.

Executive producers include Trudie Styler, Sam Tromans, Ian Dawson, Zak Brilliant, Guy Davies, Matt Cook, Toby Cook, Thomas Atherton, Dougal Mackenzie Smith, Shaun Dingwall and Mark Rylance.

A joint statement from the Wide team reads: “We are very happy to represent ‘Inland’ by Fridtjof Ryder. A first time director’s elegantly shot thriller, which throughout an oneiric path seeks to trace back the scars of a revenant young man and his paternal figure in the whirlwind of a barely spoken but deeply sympathetic visual approach. We are deeply excited to premiere the film at London Film Festival.”

Rylance said: “This film wakes me at night. It contains a very old connection to the Green Man rituals of Carnivale, when someone would dress up as the Green Man and emerge from the deep forest to rampage through the town. This version is really scary and powerful, as it should be. There is a beautiful expression of the unconscious energy of nature in man. It reminds me of ‘Eraser Head’ and ‘Blue Velvet’ and films I loved but don’t see many of any more. I am disturbed and excited by it at once.”

Paul Ridd, head BFI LFF programmer and head of acquisitions at Picturehouse, said: “Fridtjof Ryder makes a striking, boldly cinematic debut with this intense puzzle piece. Making vivid use of location filming in the heart of Gloucestershire, this refreshingly offbeat film draws heavily from the work of David Lynch, Nicolas Roeg and rural horror cinema, but has a mood and feel entirely of its own.”

Ryder said: “The film I hope to share with you lies curled around our hearts – it is the kind of film where our actors had as great stakes in its creation as I did. It was made for next to no money, it was made with blood and sweat and the need to speak. It is the kind of film that glowed out from its setting of Gloucester and changed the weather to help us shoot, brought us good light, good winds, good luck. I love everyone who made this film with me for their madness. You will see in our work all the care we have for it, and the hope it gives us moving forwards as the next generation of filmmakers, into these weird weird times. We achieved something we felt was perhaps impossible, something we were told was impossible, something larger than any one of us – and now here we stand, hand in hand. Therein lies our pride. I am humbled and excited to be sharing our debut work with you.”

“Inland” will have its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on Friday evening.

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