Yahoo Lifestyle Willem Dafoe-Led Drama ‘The Birthday Party’ Heads to Berlin With Heretic, Bankside Films Launching Sales; First Look Revealed (EXCLUSIVE)
Bankside Films and Heretic are co-repping worldwide sales on Miguel Ángel Jimenéz’s “The Birthday Party,” featuring a star-studded cast led by four-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe (“Nosferatu,” “Poor Things”). The companies will be introducing the film to buyers and showing a promo during the European Film Market.
Written and directed by Jimenéz, with additional writing credits going to Giorgos Karnavas and Nikos Panayotopoulos, “The Birthday Party” is based on the novel of the same name by Panos Karnezis. Variety has been given exclusive access to a first look image from the film, which is currently in post-production.
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Set in the late 1970s somewhere in the Mediterranean, “The Birthday Party” stars Dafoe as Marcos Timoleon, an Onassis-like tycoon who’s throwing a lavish, extravagant birthday celebration for Sofia, his daughter and sole heiress, on his exclusive private island.
Used to ruthlessly controlling everything and everyone around him whatever the cost, Marcos is also secretly plotting a big decision on his daughter’s behalf. As guests start pouring in and the night moves on, the party grows rowdier and more decadent, while the inevitable clash between Marcos and Sofia thunders towards its shocking conclusion.
Starring alongside Dafoe are fast-rising Danish talent Vic Carmen Sonne (“The Girl With the Needle”), BAFTA nominee Joe Cole (“Peaky Blinders”) and Spanish star Emma Suárez (“Julieta”). Supporting cast includes Carlos Cuevas, Christos Stergioglou, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, Pelle Heikkilä, Fransesc Garrido, Maria Pau Pigem and Elsa Lekkakou.
The film is produced by Giorgos Karnavas (“Hot Milk,” “Triangle of Sadness”) of Heretic. Co-producers are Adria Mones for Fasten Films, Kurban Kassam for Raucous Pictures and Erik Glijnis and Leontine Petit for Lemming Film.
“The Birthday Party” is a Greek, Spanish, Dutch and U.K. co-production that was shot in Corfu and Athens. The film is funded by the Greek Film Center, ICEC, the Netherlands Film Fund and the BFI’s Global Screen Fund. Its backers are EKOME, ERT, Kalamata Films, Eolo Films, Hopeless Romantic and Front Stage.
Executive producers are Ginevra Bulgari, Alexandra Daskalopoulou, Ivan Samokhvalov, Ioanna Stais, Talal Abu Ghazaleh, Mohamed Hefzy, Lee Broda, Alexander Tsekalo, Shane West, Richie Walls, Jeff Rice, Gabriel Kaplan, Bruno Lowagie, Ingeborg Willaert, Martien Uyttendaele, Dirk De Lille, Edgar Daarnhouwer, Olivier Mortagne and Dries Phlypo.
Willem Dafoe is represented by WME and Circle Management and Production. Vic Carmen Sonne is represented by Stella Härnström at Luz Eterna and Kurt Selling at Behind the Scene. Joe Cole is represented by WME and B Side management. Emma Suárez is represented by Majós for Amarion Pro.
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