WILLIAM TELL SELLS ACROSS EUROPE

Beta Cinema arrives in Cannes with a slew of sales on its eagerly anticipated resistance epic WILLIAM TELL. Currently in post production, Nick Hamm’s timely adaptation for the big screen of Friedrich Schiller’s play stars Claes Bang (The Square, Dracula), Golshifteh Farahani (Paterson, Extraction), Connor Swindells (Barbie, Sex Education, Emma), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid, The Tattooist of Auschwitz) and Academy-Award winner Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Schindler’s List, Iron Man), alongside a top-notch ensemble cast including Ellie Bamber (Moss & Freud, Nocturnal Animals), Rafe Spall (Life of Pi, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Big Short), Emily Beecham (The Interpreter, Little Joe) and Academy-Award nominee Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes, Game of Thrones, The Age of Innocence, The Wife).

Further cast include: Solly McLeod (Tom Jones, The Dead Don’t Hurt), Amar Chadha-Patel (The Decameron, Willow, The Creator), Sam Keeley (Raw, The English Game), Jake Dunn (The Ballad of Renegade Nell) and Tobias Jowett.

Going into the Cannes market, Beta Cinema have closed deals with SF Studios (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland), Beta Fiction (Spain), Eagle Pictures (Italy), Dutch Filmworks (Benelux), Pris Audiovisuais (Portugal), Monolith Films (Poland), Cinemart (Czech Republic), Blitz (Former Yugoslavia), ADS (Hungary and Romania), Beta Film (Bulgaria), TFG (Greece), Ukraine (Top Film) and The Plot Pictures (Middle East & Turkey). 

The screenplay is written by Nick Hamm, adapted from Friedrich Schiller's world-renowned classical play. The narrative unfolds in the 14th Century amidst the waning days of the Holy Roman Empire where Europe's nations fiercely vie for supremacy and the ambitious Austrians, desiring more land, encroach upon Switzerland, a serene and pastoral nation.

Amidst this backdrop, William Tell, a formerly peaceful hunter, finds himself forced to take action as his family and homeland come under dire threat from the oppressive Austrian King and his ruthless warlords. Leading his fellow countrymen, Tell embarks on a courageous rebellion, seeking to defend their liberty and stand against the tyrannical forces that seek to subjugate them.

Nick Hamm is a BAFTA award winning director who began his career as resident director for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has directed highly successful feature films for Miramax, Film 4, Pathé and Lionsgate. His track records include Driven, which was selected as the closing film at the Venice Film Festival, Netflix’s White Lines and The Journey which premiered at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals.  Piers Tempest (The Wife, Emily) and Marie-Christine Jaeger-Firmenich (Gigi & Nate) produce.

Executive Producers include Jon Hamm, David Nichols and Francesco Marras. WILLIAM TELL is a Freeturn / Tempo production in association with Beta Cinema, WME Independent, Primefocus studios, Grøenlandia, Cineroma and the IDM Film commission. 

Beta Cinema will continue selling WILLIAM TELL at the Marché du Film in Cannes alongside WME Independent who represent domestic rights.