Merman’s debut feature film Herself has been longlisted for Outstanding British Film at the 2021 BAFTA Film Awards. the other nominees in this category are:
Ammonite
Calm With Horses
County Lines
The Courier
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
The Dig
Emma.
The Father
Herself
His House
Limbo
The Mauritanian
Misbehaviour
Mogul Mowgli
Promising Young Woman
Radioactive
Rebecca
Rocks
Saint Maud
Supernova
Herself follows the story of Sandra (Clare Dunne), who on the surface of it, is a young Mum struggling to provide her two young daughters with a warm, safe, happy home to grow up in. Beneath the surface, Sandra has a steely determination to change their lives for the better and when it becomes clear that there are no other options left to her, she decides to build it herself from scratch, drawing together a community of friends to support her. Supporting cast includes Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones) and Cathy Belton (Philomena).
Clare Dunne in Herself
The film received its world premiere to critical acclaim at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and the UK premiere took place at the London Film Festival on 8 October 2020.
Herself is streaming now in the US on Amazon Prime. The Irish and UK release of Herself will now be postponed until further notice. Element Distribution and Picturehouse Entertainment will look to confirm a new release date once lockdown restrictions are lifted in Ireland and Picturehouse Cinemas and Cineworld are in a position to reopen.
Herself was co-written by Clare Dunne and Malcolm Campbell (What Richard Did). It was co-developed by Element Pictures and Merman and is produced by Academy Award® nominee Ed Guiney (The Favourite, The Lobster) and Rory Gilmartin (Rosie) for Element, together with BAFTA award-winning actress, writer, producer and director Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe, Divorce). Clelia Mountford (Motherland, There She Goes) from Merman, Element Pictures’ Andrew Lowe, BBC Films’ Rose Garnett, Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Mary Burke from the BFI and Lesley McKimm from Screen Ireland are executive producers. The film was developed with BBC Films and Screen Ireland and production was backed by Screen Ireland, BBC Films and the BFI (with National Lottery funding).
Feature runtime: 97mins
Cert: 15
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Twitter: #HerselfFilm