15/10/2018 - Award-winning director Neasa Hardiman's new feature stars Danish actress Connie Nielsen in one of the leading roles

A new sci-fi thriller called Sea Fever [+see also:
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film profile] began principal photography at Ardmore Studios and on the west coast of Ireland at the end of September. Written and directed by BAFTA winner Neasa Hardiman, best known for her recent television works such as Happy Valley and Scott & Bailey, the story follows the misfortunes of a crew of a fishing trawler, who are struggling to survive in a race against time when the vessel becomes infested with a mysterious and deadly parasite. 

The role of the captain, initially assigned to Australian actress Toni Collette, is now being played by Connie Nielsen (The Catcher Was a Spy, Justice League), while Hermione Corfield (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Fallen) will play a young marine biology student. Other important cast members include Dougray Scott (London Town [+see also:
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interview: Paolo Sorrentino
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interview: Ardalan Esmaili
interview: Milad Alami
film profile], The Girl, the Mother and the Demons [+see also:
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Sea Fever is being produced by Brendan McCarthy and John McDonnell for Dublin-based Fantastic Films in co-operation with Frakas Production (Belgium), Bright Pictures (Sweden) and Makar Productions (UK). US outfit Epic Pictures Group is partaking as an executive producer and co-financier on the project. The film has also received financial backing from a number of European partners, such as the Irish public broadcaster, RTÉ, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, the Swedish Film Institute, Swedish production firm Film i Väst, Creative Scotland, Creativity Capital, Casa Kafka Pictures, the Wallimage investment fund and Voo TV. The project benefited from the incentives offered by the Belgian Tax Shelter and was developed with the joint support of the Creative Europe MEDIA programme and Screen Ireland.

Finally, it won the inaugural AvanPost Digital Cube Post-Production Award at the Frontières international co-production market in May. Epic Pictures Group co-founder Patrick Ewald and his sales team will be attempting to sell the film at the American Film Market at the end of this month.

The official release date has not been disclosed yet.