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It marks an increase of 52% on 2020’s budget allocation.

Screen Ireland has been allocated an extra €9m ($10.53m) in funding for 2021.

The cash injection, announced by Catherine Martin, Ireland’s minister for tourism, culture, arts, Gaeltacht, sport and media, comes as various productions resume following months of Covid-19 restrictions.

Initially, Screen Ireland will prioritise the additional funding towards the 2021 Production Continuity Fund. It will also focus on productions delayed from this year and assist with costs related to implementing health and safety protocols.

It marks an increase of 52% on 2020’s budget allocation and brings Screen Ireland’s capital budget to...

The regional fund is for projects that shoot in the west of Ireland.

God’s Creatures, a UK and Irish-backed drama from the producer of Lady Macbeth, and horror title The Ten Steps are among the new feature projects being backed by Ireland’s Western Region Audiovisual Producer’s Fund (Wrap).

Wrap is an initiative of Ireland’s Western Development Commission and the Galway Film Centre and was launched to stimulate production activity in the region in late 2017. It is investing a total €2m in the sector up to the end of 2020. The total number of new projects are expected...

Dathaí Keane is shooting a new family thriller starring Dervla Kirwan and Seána Kerslake in the lead roles. Ireland’s pubcaster RTÉ has commissioned a brand-new TV series, which began principal photography in County Clare on 10 February. The production, entitled Smother, has been penned by writer Kate O’Riordan (the TV series The Bay and Mr Selfridge) and is being directed by Dathaí Keane. Keane is best known for his TV series An Klondike (2015-2017) and his debut feature, Finky (2019), which won the Best Cinematography Award at the Galway Film Fleadh and was part of Black Nights’ First Feature Competition last year. Smother is a family thriller about deeply buried secrets and their unintended consequences, set in a small town on the wild and rugged coast of County Clare. The story centres on matriarch Val Ahern (played by Dervla Kirwan), a devoted mother who is determined to protect her family...

The Stranger actress Dervla Kirwan has landed the lead role in Smother, the noir thriller produced by BBC Studios for Irish broadcaster RTÉ.

Kirwan, who features as the recurring character Corrine Price in Netflix’s The Stranger, will play family matriarch Val Ahern in Smother, which is penned by The Spanish Princess and Mr Selfridge writer Kate O’Riordan.

Ahern’s partner is found dead at the foot of a cliff the morning after a family party and as she unravels the circumstances that led to his demise, she discovers how his controlling, manipulative behavior impacted his children and siblings.

Other cast includes Niamh Walsh (Good Omens), Seána Kerslake and Gemma-Leah Devereux (Judy), who play Ahern’s daughters Jenny, Grace and Anna.

Stuart Graham (The Cure), Thomas Levin (Borgen), Hilary Rose (The Young Offenders) and Justine Mitchell (Cheat) also feature in the six-part series, which...

Exclusive: Disney has set the scribe team of Tim Rasmussen & Vince Di Meglio to script It’s A Small World, a family film based on the 50-year-old theme park attraction. The scribes, whose credits include License To Wed, Smother and Marmaduke and who wrote on Meet The Fockers and The Girlfriend Equation, board a project that has Jon Turteltaub attached to direct. It got started when Jared Stern pitched the Small World project and wrote a draft. The Lego Movie‘s Dan Lin is…...

What is it with Owen Wilson and movies about dogs? Last year, Wilson joined Jennifer Aniston in the heart string-yanking, super-melodramatic dying dog movie Marley and Me, and now THR is reporting that he'll be voicing the rascally Great Dane Marmaduke on the big screen. Based on the popular comic strip that was created in 1954 by Brad Anderson and Phil Leeming, with a script by Tim Rassmussen and Vince Di Meglio (License to Wed, Smother), this live-action/CG movie will follow a family named the Winslows who move from Kansas to Orange County with their dog Marmaduke, a slobbery pooch who creates chaos wherever he goes. It will see the title character "navigate a volatile Mutts vs. Pedigrees turf war, woo the purebred of his dreams and overcome a fall from grace." Tom Dey (Failure to Launch, Shanghai Noon) will direct the feature, with Judy Greer, Lee Pace and William H. Macy making up the human cast...

Columbia Pictures has acquired Babe in the Woods, an original action-comedy spec script written by scribe/actor Mike White, say the trades. White’s credits include Orange County and School of Rock. He made his directorial debut in 2007 with the Molly Shannon dramedy Year of the Dog. The script is about a female freshman from the Midwest who arrives at Yale and becomes a target of the New Jersey mob. White will produce through his Rip Cord Prods. banner with David Bernad. He'll do a polish on the script before it goes out to directors and cast. White's Rip Cord, which has its deal at Paramount, recently completed Gentlemen Broncos, written and directed by Jared Hess, for Fox Searchlight, which will release it in October. That film is an outgrowth of White's relationship with Hess from Nacho Libre, which White wrote and Hess directed. Rip Cord is also producing Oh...

We've added new images in from Screen Media Films' comedy "Smother," starring Dax Shepard, Liv Tyler, Diane Keaton, Mike White, Rachel Cannon, Ken Howard, Don Lake, Steven Christopher Parker and Ron Butler. Vince Di Meglio directs and writes the film alongside Tim Rasmussen. Di Meglio made his directorial debut on 2000's "Deadfall." See all the images in the gallery. Marilyn Cooper (Academy Award-winner Diane Keaton) is one of those mothers- the kind who’ll call at 6:30 in the morning, or tell embarrassing stories about her son Noah (Dax Shepard) to complete strangers. When she suspects her husband is having an affair, she decides it’s time to “take a break”, and shows up on Noah’s doorstep with bags and five foster dogs in tow. Already having lost his job, hosting an unwelcome houseguest (Mike White) on his couch, and facing pressure from his wife Clare (Liv Tyler) to...

We've added new images in from Screen Media Films' comedy "Smother," starring Dax Shepard, Liv Tyler, Diane Keaton, Mike White, Rachel Cannon, Ken Howard, Don Lake, Steven Christopher Parker and Ron Butler. Vince Di Meglio directs and writes the film alongside Tim Rasmussen. Di Meglio made his directorial debut on 2000's "Deadfall." Marilyn Cooper (Academy Award-winner Diane Keaton) is one of those mothers- the kind who’ll call at 6:30 in the morning, or tell embarrassing stories about her son Noah (Dax Shepard) to complete strangers. When she suspects her husband is having an affair, she decides it’s time to “take a break”, and shows up on Noah’s doorstep...

We've added new images in from Screen Media Films' comedy "Smother," starring Dax Shepard, Liv Tyler, Diane Keaton, Mike White, Rachel Cannon, Ken Howard, Don Lake, Steven Christopher Parker and Ron Butler. Vince Di Meglio directs and writes the film alongside Tim Rasmussen. Di Meglio made his directorial debut on 2000's "Deadfall." Marilyn Cooper (Academy Award-winner Diane Keaton) is one of those mothers- the kind who’ll call at 6:30 in the morning, or tell embarrassing stories about her son Noah (Dax Shepard) to complete strangers. When she suspects her husband is having an affair, she decides it’s time to “take a break”, and shows up on Noah’s doorstep...

Diane Keaton and Jeff Goldblum are set to star in the new Paramount Pictures comedy "Morning Glory," which already boasts Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams in the line-up.

The story, penned by Aline Brosh McKenna ("The Devil Wears Prada"), will feature an aspiring news producer (McAdams) who must save a failing morning TV show by getting control of its bickering anchors (Ford and Keaton). Goldblum will be McAdams' boss.

As per Variety, J.J. Abrams is producing, while Roger Michell ("Notting Hill") will direct. Production will kick off in May in New York.

Keaton was last seen in the comedies "Mad Money" and "Smother," while Goldblum was in the German/Israeli drama "Adam Resurrected," which was released in Germany in January.

Liv Tyler will star in a romantic comedy appropriately called "The Romantics" which is being produced by Plum Pictures' Suzanne and Jennifer Todd. Novel writer Galt Niederhoffer adapts as well as directs the film.   The story follows seven close friends on at the wedding of their two friends. Liv Tyler plays the maide of honor Laura who has a long rivalry with her friend over the groom.   Tyler was last seen in the eerie and effective thriller "The Strangers" alongside "Underworld" star Scott Speedman as well as the box  office success "The Incredible Hulk" alongside Edward Norton, William Hurt and Tim Roth.   She can be seen next in the DVD release of "Smother" with Diane Keaton, Dax Shepard and Selma Blair. What's "Smother" about?   Since getting his start on Punk'd, Dax Shepard has had the privilege of starring opposite Hollywood's loveliest ladies, from Jessica Simpson in Employee Of The Month...

Variety is reporting that Kátia Lund, co-director of City of God (2002) will write and direct a film about Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman who endured a tribal council-sanctioned gang rape and fought back against the system. The film will be produced by Jay Roach (Recount) and Jennifer Perini (Smother).

Roach told Variety, "Kátia wrote a treatment, we took it to every studio, and they all found it inspiring but couldn't imagine financing it." They finally did find funding via a partnership with Ary Digital (Pakistan's first independent TV network) and Passport Capital.

Mai's story made headlines around the world in 2002. After her adolescent brother was accused of sexually assaulting a young woman from another clan, a tribal council ordered that Mai be publicly gang-raped as punishment in order to shame her family. Variety writes, "While most victims of this authorized crime commit suicide rather than exist as a pariah, Mai fought back.

This film was not screened in advance for American critics. Here are excerpts from a review in the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald:

Diane Keaton chalked up so much credit during her Woody Allen years that I've been looking on her benignly ever since. But this time, sadly, she's gone too far. She's turned herself into a mother-in-law joke.

Her name is Marilyn, she has five dogs, a discontented husband and a put-upon son (Dax Shepard) and daughter-in-law (Liv Tyler). She's introduced in Vince Di Meglio's...

By Neil Pedley

If the old maxim "What I really want to do is direct" still holds true, this week's releases confirm that the filmmaking game is more open than ever. Anyone can have a crack at it; actors, teachers, digital artists, preachers. Perhaps you should have a go yourself. Hell, if Paul W.S. Anderson can get work doing it...

"The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela"

Offering up the most unlikely fairytale you're ever likely to see, Icelandic filmmaker Olaf de Fleur Johannesson draws on his documentary background with this endearing low-budget, semi-improvised Cinderella story. As a young Filipino lady-boy, the spunky, pre-op sex worker Raquela longs to be the belle of the ball as she trawls the Internet looking for love. When an American suitor pledges to be her Prince Charming and proposes a meeting in France, Raquela departs for her long-awaited date with destiny under the glittering Paris skyline.

I haven't heard much of the upcoming Diane Keaton vehicle (?!?) Smother, but I think the poster is pretty cool. It features certain design principles that are rather unique in the world of movie poster design--i'm just not smart enough to comment on them. In the film, Dax Shepard plays a decent-looking guy with a hot wife (Liv Tyler) who loses his job, only to have his mother (Keaton) move in and, well. smother him. If I were Dax and my mom was Diane I would love for her to move in with...

Indie distributor Variance Films is launching with the theatrical release of the dark comedy "Smother" starring Diane Keaton, Dax Shepard and Liv Tyler and exec producer Terry Bradshaw's Hurricane Katrina football documentary "Walking on Dead Fish."

Former ThinkFilm distribution and marketing director Dylan Marchetti wants Variance to bridge the gap between producers self-releasing features and traditional distributors, avoiding the direct-to-video trap that many indies encounter.

Part of Marchetti's strategy is to avoid conventional New York/Los Angeles platform releases, instead looking to rollouts tailored to each film's target audience. He will be scouting for more Variance projects at next month's Toronto International Film Festival.

Vince Di Meglio's "Smother" centers on an overbearing mother who worms her way into her son's life. The film will receive a Sept. 26 release in the top five markets.

Franklin Martin's "Fish", a co-release with Dutchmen Films, follows New Orleans high school students who overcome natural disaster to form a winning football team. The film, narrated by Fox NFL studio analyst and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Bradshaw, opens there Sept. 5, followed by a regional expansion Sept. 19.

Marchetti negotiated the "Smother" deal with Vincent Reppert and Johnson Chan of Germie & Bucky Prods. and did the "Fish" deal with Nguyen Tran and Ilan Arboleda of the Institution.

Sony Pictures Entertainment's nascent acquisitions unit has entered into a multipicture co-financing and domestic distribution agreement with Inferno Films. The deal gives the Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group all media rights to films produced by Inferno.

The first film covered by the deal is "The Heaven Project", a psychological thriller starring Paul Walker and directed and written by John Glenn. The film is in production.

Pictures at the top of Inferno's development slate include a remake of George Cukor's "The Women", written and to be directed by Diane English, creator of television's "Murphy Brown"; "The Monkey Wrench", an adaptation of the Edward Abbey novel that will be directed by Catherine Hardwicke (William Goldman wrote the screenplay); and "A Dog's Story", a family drama inspired by a Japanese story of a man and his dog.

Inferno is in postproduction on "Smother", which stars Diane Keaton and was produced with Jay Roach. Recent film projects include Richard Kelley's "Southland Tales", with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Justin Timberlake and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson; "Just Friends", with Amy Smart, Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris; and "The Air I Breathe", starring Forest Whitaker, Kevin Bacon, Andy Garcia, Brendan Fraser and Gellar.

Variety reports that Diane Keaton, Dax Shepard and Liv Tyler have signed on to topline Smother for Bill Johnson and Jim Seibel's Inferno Distribution. The indie film, written by Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio, centers on a recently unemployed guy whose meddling mom moves in with him and his wife. Di Meglio makes his directorial debut with the $15 million project. Inferno will produce with Jay Roach and Johnson Chan; Jennifer Perini and Matt Berenson are on board as executive producers.