Mark Jenkin’s horror movie Enys Men, starring Mary Woodvine and Edward Rowe, premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival has been acquired by Neon for release in the US.
As with his critically acclaimed debut feature Bait, Jenkin acted not only as writer and director, but also as cinematographer, sound designer, and composer. Shot on 16mm color negative using a 1970’s clockwork Bolex camera and post sync sound, Enys Men evokes the feeling of discovering a reel of never before seen celluloid unspooling in a desolate, haunted movie palace. A provocative and uncompromising entry into the Horror genre, Enys Men sees Jenkin connect and extend the lineage of iconic chilling realism personified by Robin Hardy’s The Wickerman, Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, and Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs.
Set in 1973 on an uninhabited island off the British coast, a wildlife volunteer descends into a terrifying metaphysical and ecosophical journey that challenges her grip on reality and pushes her into a living nightmare. An ethereal fever dream of a horror that is as hypnotic as it is grounded in the cold Cornish stone, Enys Men asserts Jenkin as one of the U.K.’s most exciting and singular filmmakers.
Jenkin received two BAFTA nominations and one win for ‘Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer’ for Bait which was shot in monochrome 16mm. The film premiered at Berlinale 2019 and was released theatrically by the BFI in the UK. It went on to become a significant breakout arthouse hit achieving critical and box office success.
Related posts:
