Hlynur Pálmason’s ‘Joan of Arc’ Acquired For North America & UK

EXCLUSIVE: Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason’s 62-minute film Joan of Arc has been acquired for a clutch of key territories including North American and the UK in the wake of its premiere at San Sebastian earlier this year.

Warsaw-based sales agency New Europe Film Sales has unveiled deals to Spain (Elastica), Italy (Movies Inspired), North America (Janus), UK (Curzon) and Poland (New Horizons), as well as revealed the final poster art (scroll down to check it out).

The film follows three siblings across the courses of the seasons who repeatedly craft a knight-like figure and then demolish it with a barrage of arrows.

The work was conceived and produced in parallel with Pálmason’s family drama The Love That Remains, which is Iceland’s Best International Feature Film entry for the 98th Academy Awards.

Pálmason explained how the films were connected in press notes released for the San Sebastian debut, saying they came from the same world, had been shot with the rolls of film and actors.

“There are three narrative threads in The Love that Remains, and one of these threads is about the children building this figure in the landscape,” he said.

“This is the main thread of Joan of Arc, but you only see a glimpse of it in The Love that Remains… Joan of Arc explores some of the same themes, but it also goes into a completely different direction and goes deep, he continued.

“I do think the experience of watching Joan of Arc, along with The Love that Remains as a companion piece, can be quite interesting, but I also think Joan of Arc stands on its own as a singular piece and experience.”

All the newly announced Joan of Arc buyers also hold rights to The Love That Remains.

Joan of Arc is produced by Reykjavík-based Still Vivid and Copenhagen-based Snowglobe in co-production with Paris-based Maneki Films and with the support of the Icelandic Film Center Icelandic Film Centre, Det Danske Filminstitut, CNC, SASS.