M-Appeal acquires Lorcan Finnegan’s thriller “Without Name”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Germany’s M-Appeal has acquired world sales rights to “Without Name”, an ecological horror-thriller that marks the debut feature of Ireland’s Lorcan Finnegan, Variety reports.

“Without Name” will world premiere on Sept. 12 in the Toronto Festival’s Vanguard section. XYZ Films is handling North American distribution rights.

Part-psychological thriller, depicting the growing deliriousness of a man in mid-life crisis, “Without Name” is also set against the background of recent rampant property speculation in Ireland. Here nature pushes back.

Written by Garret Shanley, “Without Name” turns on a land surveyor (Alan McKenna) who takes on a job to survey an extensive stretch of dense woodland. There he glimpses silhouettes among the trees, senses something supernatural about the forest and that he is stumbling on a dark secret that the locals refuse to acknowledge.

“Through its carefully-constructed cinematography and sound, ‘Without Name’s’ outstanding element is not only the suspenseful spiral that the main character takes, but how nature, in all its creepiness, becomes a protagonist in its own right,” said Maren Kroymann, CEO of M-Appael, which has “4 Days in France” and “Singing in Graveyards” in the Venice Fest’s Critics’ Week.

Developed through the Irish Film Board’s Catalyst Project scheme, which backs emerging Irish talent, “Without Name” is the first feature from producer Brunella Cocchiglia at Lovely Prods., which she set up in 2004 with Finnegan. Its projects include “Vivarium,” a sci-fi horror film written by Shanley that is being developed with Film4, the IFB and Fantastic Films.