New York-based sales company Visit Films will represent worldwide rights for Mark Cousins’ new documentary The Storms of Jeremy Thomas. The film will world premiere in the Cannes Classics section of the Cannes Film Festival.
As director Cousins joins Thomas for an intimate road trip from London to the Cannes Film Festival – an annual pilgrimage that Thomas has taken for the last 40 years – the pair remember some of the most acclaimed and controversial films that Thomas brought to life, which include The Last Emperor, David Cronenberg’s Crash, Bad Timingand others.
“Thomas introduces us to his remarkable world of movie stars – Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, David Bowie – and daring international cinema, influenced by punk and counter-culture,” says Visit Films. “The journey is intercut with acclaimed actors Tilda Swinton and Debra Winger, who give exclusive insights into the man and his work. Illustrated with a dazzling range of film clips and rich in insights about creativity and survival, The Storms of Jeremy Thomas is a road movie portrait of France, a film school and – in the era of streaming and corporatisation – a passionate call to arms for movies that get to the heart of life.”
The film is produced by David P. Kelly Films (Two Women) and executive produced with Creative Scotland and Tim Macready’s Pygmalion Pictures (Two Women), developed in association with Cyprus Avenue Films with support from Northern Ireland Screen.
The film is produced by David P. Kelly Films (Two Women) and executive produced with Creative Scotland and Tim Macready’s Pygmalion Pictures (Two Women), developed in association with Cyprus Avenue Films with support from Northern Ireland Screen.
Mark Cousins said, “Jeremy Thomas was the punky Darryl F. Zanuck or Irving Thalberg for my generation, so to get to drive across France for five days with him was magic. Few movie producers have dug so deep into human nature or have such a kaleidoscopic mind for movies. My film tries to be a portrait of that kaleidoscope. In a conservative era in the UK, it’s also a celebration of radical Englishness. Visit has dynamically represented films by Desiree Akhavan, Rolf de Heer, Joanna Hogg, Werner Herzog, Ana Katz and David Robert Mitchell, so I’m delighted to be in their company and vibe.”
Visit President Ryan Kampe said, “It wasn’t until years after my initial discovery of cinema and the films that became formative to my education and taste, that I realized there was a common thread to many of them – they were produced by Jeremy Thomas. After screening this film, it was apparent that Mark had been influenced in a similar way and was able to paint a passionate portrait of Jeremy against the informal backdrop of a car ride.”
