october 24, 2024
Principal photography has completed on Rebekah Fortune’s LEARNING TO BREATHE UNDER WATER (BTTL ‘22 Finalist), based on a screenplay by Richard Brabin, which shot in Galway, Ireland. BAFTA Award nominee Rory Kinnear (Alex Garland’s Men, No Time To Die, Peterloo, Skyfall, Broken) and Academy Award®, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee Maria Bakalova (The Apprentice, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) star alongside newcomer Ezra Carlisle.
Bankside are also delighted to announce a slew of pre-sales including Airlines (Aardwolf), Benelux (September Film), Bulgaria (Beta), Eastern Europe excluding Poland PTV (HBO), Former Yugoslavia (Karantanija Cinemas), Middle East (Front Row) and Poland (Best Film). Rebekah Fortune’s 2017 micro-budget debut feature Just Charlie was released to critical acclaim, being selected for festivals all over the world, where it received many awards including The Audience Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival Ecrans Junior Award, along with two BIFA nominations.
Eight-year-old Leo’s best friend isa giant shark sculpture, which his dad Peter, an artist, put on the roof of their house. Leo misses his mum, who died five years ago, and Peter swings between sudden bursts of manic creativity and long periods of silent anxiety. That all changes when Bulgarian au pair Anya joins the household to help care for Leo, and finally gives him someone new to learn from. Leo’s unique perspectives bring humour, imagination, and an innocent charm to this off-beat comedy drama.
LEARNING TO BREATHE UNDER WATER is produced by Jack Tarling of Shudder Films (Kneecap, God’s Own Country) and Patrick O’Neill of Wildcard (Kneecap, Fréwaka). The film was co-produced by KeyFilm in the Netherlands, One Wave Films in Wales and made in association with Eiru Films in the West of Ireland. Finance comes from Screen Ireland, BFI Global Screen Fund, Ffilm Cymru, WRAP Fund, Netherlands Film Fund, Finite Films, Bankside Films and Three Point Capital. Executive producers are Greg Martin, Gar O-Brien-Collins, Kiah Simpson, Dias Feld, Kamila Serkebaeva, Stephen Kelliher, Yana Georgieva, Amy Gardner, Krishna Anaberi and Keith Kehoe. Co-producers are Hanneke Niens, Nan Davies and Heather Higgins. Bankside Films are handling worldwide sales.