Press release Cannes 2015
Ida Scribe, Rebecca Lenckiewicz joins with Cannes alumnus Konstantin Bojanov on I Want To Be Like You, starring rising Irish Actor Barry Keoghan and Golden Globe/Academy Award Nominee Klaus Maria Brandauer. Antonio Saura’s Latido Films Takes on World Sales. Shooting summer 2015.
For immediate Release
London, Friday May 8th
In her first film outing since penning the Academy Award Winning screenplay of IDA, British writer Rebecca Lenckiewicz has joined forces with AVE director Konstantin Bojanov on the feature film I Want To Be Like You, to be directed by Bojanov this July and shot on location in and around Copenhagen , the UK’s West Midlands and Belgium. The film has been snapped up for international sales by Madrid-based Latido Films who will be presenting the project to buyers for the first time on the Croisette next week.
Loosely described as a coming of age road movie about the freewheeling emotions and passions of youth, I Want To Be Like You tells the rollicking story of second generation immigrant and budding artist Pawel who lives with his mother in Birmingham. She wants him to go back to Bulgaria for the summer holidays – instead he takes off on the road to find his hero, the legendary French painter Arnaud. It’s the story of a young man who wants to become someone else, but needs to be himself.
“I Want To Be Like You is a story of obsession, and near blind worship, of one’s artistic idols,” says the Berlin-based Bojanov, “In some ways, it’s a reflection on my own difficult relationship with art. During my teenage years, art for me was a quasi-religious endeavour, a matter of life and death. Unable to relate to my peers, I sought spiritual guidance from tortured souls of centuries past. At sixteen, I left art school to move to a remote village where an ascetic painter whom I greatly admired had once lived. Needless to say, this romantic undertaking was short-lived and ended with near fatal consequences.”
Bojanov, a successful and accomplished visual artist himself, as well as former EFP producer on the Move, was last in Cannes with his debut feature AVE which screened in the Semaine de la Critique section, the film won vast numbers of prizes across Europe subsequent to its release.
Bojanov has written the screenplay alongside British scribe Rebecca Lenckiewcz, best known for her partnership with Pawel Pawlikowski on Academy Award winning IDA. Rebecca is one of the most prominent British playwrights and screenwriters working in the UK today. She is best known as the author of Her Naked Skin (2008), which was the first original play by a living female playwright to be performed on the Olivier stage of the Royal National Theatre. Lenkiewicz has written the screenplays for Secret Diary of a Call Girl for ITV2, and The Sea Change for BBC 3/Fragile films.
To be shot on a budget of €2 million the film is production partnership between Toolbox Film in Copenhagen, London’s Film and Music Entertainment, Brussels-based Left Field Ventures and Bulgaria’s Multfilm.
The young cast of the film is led by up and coming Irish actor Barry Keoghan (Pawel) who first came industry intention in YammDemmange’s’71. He more recently appeared in Mammal by Rebecca Daly, Trespass Against Us by Adam Smith, and Norfolk, directed by Martin Radich. Opposite him in the role of Piri is Danish actor ThureLindhardt best known for roles in Fast and The Furious 6, Ron Howard’s Angels and Demons,Byzantiumby Neil Jordan, Flame and Citron and Sean Penn’s Into the Wild. French actress SoleneRigot (Puppylove, Tonerre) takes the female lead with the legendary French Artist Arnaud being played by Austrian acting legend, Klaus Maria Brandauer.
For his second feature Bojanov has surrounded himself with a highly experienced and dedicated crew including DOP Hubert Taczanowski, most recently known for his work on Michael Winterbottom’sAmanda Knox case musing Face of An Angel, and The Look of Love; sound designer Srdjan Kurpjel whose key director partnerships have been with Paolo Sorrentino, Oliver Hirschbiegel and Emir Kusturica; and Sarah Blenkinsopthe British costume designer who worked for Lynne Ramsay on Swimmer and MorvernCallar, Samantha Morton’s The Unloved, and Cannes entryThe Lobster by YorgosLanthimos.
The film has pre-sold to 41 Shadows in Denmark with pre-sale deals in the UK, Bulgaria and Benelux pending.
Ends
For further information please contact:
Emilie Jouffroy + 447788265088
Notes for Editors
Konstantin Bojanov, Writer/ Director
Writer, director and producer, Konstantin Bojanov graduated from the National School of Fine Arts, Sofia and received an M.A. from the Royal College of Art, London. He pursued a career as a contemporary artist, before directing his short film Lemon Is Lemon (2001), followed by the award-winning documentary Invisible (2005). His first feature fiction film Avé (2011) premiered in competition at 2011 Critic’s Week at Cannes, and won over 20 international awards: Cannes IFF (Semaine de la Critique); Sarajevo IFF - Special Jury Prize, Cineuropa Award; Hamburg IFF – “Die Elfe” Young Talent Award; European Film Awards 2011; Warsaw IFF - FIPRESCI Award; Leids Film Festival - Grand Prix “Iron Herring Award”; Fantasporto - Directors’ Week : Best Film, Best Screenplay; Sofia IFF - Award for Best Director; Domaine Boyar – Award for Best Balkan Film; Bulgarian Film Critics - Award for Best Balkan Film; KODAK Award for Best Bulgarian Feature Film; Vilnius IFF: Special Mention for Best Actress; GoEast Wiesbaden - Award for Best Director; Bulgarian Ministry of Culture “Golden Century”; Bulgarian Film Academy Awards - Best Film; Best Directorial Debut
Toolbox Film, Copenhagen
Producers Morten Kaufmann and Signe Leick Jensen established Toolbox Film in Copenhagen in March 2011. Their credit list includes several of the most prominent films in Danish cinema in the recent years, among others:
Thomas Vinterberg’s award winning The Hunt,Submarino, Festen, Lars von Trier’s Manderlay, The Boss of it All, BilleAugust’sMarie Krøyer, Ole Christian Madsen’s Superclasíco, Flame & Citron, Angels in Fast Motion, Prague, Kira’s Reason, Dagur Kari’s Dark Horse and Natasha Arthys’ Miracle.
Film and Music Entertainment, London
For 15 years, Film & Music Entertainment has been at the forefront of independent production in the UK, Europe, Africa and Latin America, creating a world cinema brand based on quality, commitment and a passion for creativity. It has 50 films in its current catalogue, including a winner of the Golden Lion from Venice, an Academy Award nominee and numerous official entries in the Sundance, Berlin, Montreal, Toronto, Cannes and San Sebastian film festivals. The Film & Music Entertainment brand is synonymous with quality feature films via a wide variety of international authors. A partnership between European Film Academy Deputy Chairman, Mike Downey and Academy Award nominated producer Samantha Taylor, the company is chaired by four-time Oscar nominated director Stephen Daldry. Scripts in development include films with Volker Schloendorff, Irish author ColmToibin, German debutant Rudolph Herzog, Golden Bear winner Mark Dornford May, and Schindler’s List writer Thomas Keneally.
Multfilm, Sofia
MULTFILM is owned by producers IlianDjevelekov, Matey Konstantinov and GeorgiDimitrov. In 2001 they founded their first company Miramar film, which quickly became one of the leading producers of TV commercials in the country. In 2007 through their label Multfilm they produced the feature film Zift by first time director JavorGardev which was a critical and commercial success. In 2011 their next feature film Love.Net, directed by IlianDjevelekov, became one of the greatest national box office hits.
Left Field Ventures
Left Field Ventures is a Belgian company and was founded by the John Engel. He started his film career in the in the 1980s, in New York then Los Angeles, he worked as a production manager on Neil Jordan’s Interview With the Vampire, Brian De Palma’s Raising Cain, and Cabin Boy produced by Tim Burton. He then went on to exec-produce features – e.g., Maniac Cop 2 and James and the Giant Peach (again produced by Tim Burton). In Belgium, John founded Left Field Ventures in 2002. The company produces mainly feature-length motion pictures, from projects that the company develops with Belgian or foreign writers and directors to international co-productions aimed at the widest audience.