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“I did things, Stephen, and I don’t even know what I think about them.”

This is Dolours Price, in a later episode of the new FX/Hulu miniseries Say Nothing. Dolours (played as a young woman by Lola Petticrew, and as an older one by Maxine Peak) has spent much of her life fighting on behalf of liberating Northern Ireland from British control. Her methods have often been violent, including the 1973 car bombing of London’s Old Bailey courthouse. And she has often been called upon to drive traitors...

"Sooner or later the party has to end." "Why?!" Freestyle Digital Media has released the official US trailer for Animals, an indie dramedy about two wild young women wrestling with the ways of the world. This originally premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, and it was released in the UK last year (here's the first trailer). Made by Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde, the film is based on Emma Jane Unsworth's novel of the same name about two best friends living in Dublin who will never not be best friends. Described as "wild, outrageous and utterly hilarious," Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat star as best friends who often get drunk, party hard, and live the good life. Until one of them meets a guy and life begins to change - unless they hold onto their old ways. Also starring Fra Fee, Dermot Murphy, Amy Molloy, Pat Shortt, Olwen Fouéré, and Kwaku Fortune.

Sophie Hyde (right) on the set of ‘Animals’. (Photo: Tamara Hardman)

Sophie Hyde’s Animals drew warm response from critics after its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and positive box office numbers following its UK release last month.

Bonsai Films launched the film in Australia yesterday, but the director has “no idea” if local audiences will come out to see it, noting the difficulty smaller films have in getting cut through and remaining on cinema screens long enough to garner word-of-mouth.

“People have been really warm, excellent audiences so far. But it’s a limited release. I don’t know if there’s a young audience for arthouse in Australia… it’s just hard to get people into the cinemas,” Hyde told If earlier this week.

“My hopes are that it gets enough time for people to be able to find their way to it, because...

‘Animals’ (Photo credit: Bernard Walsh).

Sophie Hyde’s Animals opened in UK cinemas last weekend, its first territory, winning plaudits from the critics and sizable audiences.

Picturehouse Entertainment launched the female relationships dramedy adapted from the Emma Jane Unsworth novel, which stars Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat, on 73 locations: 38 in greater London and 35 in the regions.

The weekend total including Q&a screenings hosted by Unsworth and a National Girlfriends’ Day promotion was £107,000.

Closer Productions’ Rebecca Summerton, who produced the Irish-Australian co-production with Hyde, Sarah Brocklehurst and Vico Films’ Cormac Fox, tells If she is very pleased with the UK opening and Picturehouse’s marketing campaign.

That augurs well for the September 12 release via Jonathan Page’s Bonsai Films. Page has booked nine screens and aims to have 15 on board at launch.

“It is hard to stand out but I think our uber-cool cast of Alia Shawkat and Holliday...

"Sooner or later the party has to end..." "Why?!" Picturehouse in the UK has debuted the first official UK trailer for the indie dramedy Animals, which initially premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and is playing at Sundance London coming up this week. Made by Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde, the film is based on Emma Jane Unsworth's novel of the same name about two best friends living in Dublin. Described as "wild, outrageous and utterly hilarious," Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat star as best friends who often get drunk, party hard, and live the good life. Until one of them meets a guy and life begins to change - unless they hold onto their old ways. Also starring Fra Fee, Dermot Murphy, Amy Molloy, Pat Shortt, Olwen Fouéré, and Kwaku Fortune. This is a quirky, fun, wild film that was made because Hyde felt a need...

‘Animals’ (Photo credit: Bernard Walsh)

The overseas sales prospects for Sophie Hyde’s Animals look bright following rave reviews for the female-led comedy at the Sundance Film Festival.

Adapted by Emma Jane Unsworth from her acclaimed 2014 novel of the same name, the film stars English actress Holliday Grainger and American Alia Shawkat as Laura and Tyler, best friends and roommates in Dublin.

When Tyler’s younger sister Jean (Amy Molloy) announces that she and her partner are expecting a baby, Laura is plunged into a funk that Tyler finds perplexing.

Their hedonistic existence is further disrupted when Laura gets engaged to Jim (Irishman Fra Free), an ambitious pianist who decides to go teetotal.

The Irish-Australian co-production was produced by Hyde and Rebecca Summerton for Closer Productions and Sarah Brocklehurst and Cormac Fox for Vico Films.

IndieWire’s Kate Erbland enthused: “Grainger and Shawkat are wonderful together, conveying the depth of...

Thirty is a curious age, at once unsettling and perilously close to settled: the first point at which you can see another adult version of yourself in the rearview mirror, and wonder what’s gone right or wrong. Its onset has a different effect on the two hard-partying Dublin girlfriends at the center of “Animals,” as their once watertight bond starts to leak boozily at the seams. For Laura, a self-styled, self-doubting 32-year-old writer, that rearview glance is one she’d rather not take, as she senses herself sliding out of sync with the world around her; for Tyler, her proudly feckless Bff, looking back only emboldens her to carry on as before.

Adapted by Emma Jane Unsworth from her own 2014 novel, Sophie Hyde’s generous, freewheeling film is a pleasingly disorderly addition to the still-underpopulated ranks of female friendship studies — eschewing both strict moral judgment and greeting-card sentimentality in...

Modern female friendship — and feminism — is top of mind in Sophie Hyde’s Sundance player “Animals.”

Variety has an exclusive first look at the film, which sees Alia Shawkat and Holliday Grainger as roommates who have torn up the streets of Dublin for a decade with drunken shenanigans and artistic ambition.

When Grainger’s Laura discovers her younger sister is starting a family, panic sets in. Shawkat’s Tyler rolls her eyes at the archaic pressure to settle down.

Temptation to do just that isn’t far around the corner, when Laura meets a devoted artist who inspires her to finish her book, winning her heart in the process. Laura’s own love story causes distress for Tyler, who finds her friend’s traditional path unsettling.

Australian writer/producer/director Hyde helmed the film, which was adapted by Emma Jane Unsworth from her 2014 novel of the same name. Hyde’s first feature,...

Animals

Australia’s Sophie Hyde returns with her debut Animals, an Irish-Australian co-production. Hyde serves as producer alongside Rebecca Summerton for Closer Productions and Sarah Brocklehurst and Cormac Fox for Vico Films. Bryan Mason, who served as editor and cinematographer on her debut 52 Tuesdays returns once again for double duty. Hyde nabs Alia Shawkat (Green Room) and Holliday Grainger as her headliners, joined by Amy Molloy. Hyde’s 2013 debut 52 Tuesdays won her an award for Directing at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival (see acceptance speech) as well as the Crystal Bear for Best Film in the Generation 14 plus program in Berlin.…...