Film4's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri wins two Oscars

5 March 2018

 

Martin McDonagh’s Film4 backed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri today won two Academy Awards: Frances McDormand was honoured with the prize for Actress in a Leading Role for playing Mildred Hayes, while Sam Rockwell took home the award for Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Officer Dixon.

Director of Film4 Daniel Battsek commented: “Congratulations to Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, and to all the Three Billboards nominees. Film4 could not be happier to have been on this journey with the filmmakers and our partners at Fox Searchlight.”

Alex Mahon, Channel 4 Chief Executive, said: "What an amazing Oscars night for Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, and for Martin McDonagh. I'm phenomenally proud of Film4's involvement in Three Billboards. We've backed Martin since his first film and that relationship is a blueprint for the role that Film4 and Channel 4 play in supporting distinctive creative talent."

Film4 have backed all of writer/director Martin McDonagh’s screen work to date, from his Oscar-winning 2006 short film Six Shooter (available to view for free on Film4 website, see URL below), to his Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning debut feature In Bruges (2008), the 2013 BAFTA-nominated Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

The awards for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri continue a run of success at the Academy Awards that have seen Film4 productions win 18 Oscars in the last 11 years for films including Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a Slave, Amy, Ex Machina and Room, and a total of 34 Oscars in Film4’s 36 year history.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri had previously won five BAFTAs, four Golden Globes, three SAG awards, two Independent Spirit Awards, two British Independent Film Awards and was voted Film of the Year by the London Film Critics Circle. The film premiered at the 2017 autumn film festivals, where it won the Best Screenplay prize at Venice and the Grolsch People’s Choice Award at Toronto, following in the footsteps of previous Film4 backed winners Room (2015), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008). The film has also won audience awards at film festivals in San Sebastián, Denver and Leeds as well as at Camerimage, and received awards or nominations from critics’ groups in Los Angeles, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Austin, San Francisco and Washington, as well as the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and the African American Film Critics Association.

The film this weekend crossed $52 million at the US box office and $131 million worldwide through Fox Searchlight.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a Blueprint Pictures production, financed on a 50/50 basis by Film4 and Fox Searchlight Pictures, with the studio taking worldwide distribution rights. Film4’s parent company Channel 4 Television retains UK TV rights – profits from which will be used to support future British film production.

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See Martin McDonagh’s Oscar-winning debut short film Six Shooter here:

https://www.film4productions.com/shorts/2004/six-shooter

 

 

ABOUT FILM4

Film4 is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most distinctive and innovative talent in UK and international filmmaking, both new and established.

Film4 has developed and co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years, Academy Award®-winners such as Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Asif Kapadia’s box office record breaking documentary Amy, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady, in addition to critically-acclaimed award-winners such as Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster, Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Chris Morris’s Four Lions, Shane Meadows’ This is England, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years and David Mackenzie’s Starred Up.

Film4’s recent releases include Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not a Witch, Danny Boyle’s T2 Trainspotting, Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, Todd Haynes’ Carol and Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette. Forthcoming releases include festival award winners Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here and Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete, as well as Clio Barnard’s Dark River, Sebastián Lelio’s Disobedience, John Cameron Mitchell’s How To Talk To Girls At Parties, Michael Pearce’s Beast, Paddy Considine’s Journeyman and Toby MacDonald’s Old Boys. Films in production include Lenny Abrahamson’s The Little Stranger, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, Bart Layton’s American Animals, Tinge Krishnan’s Been So Long, Iain Morris’s The Festival, Mike Leigh’s Peterloo, Steve McQueen’s Widows, Stephen Merchant’s Fighting With My Family, Garth Davis’s Mary Magdalene, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, Tom Harper’s Country Music, Jim Hosking’s An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn and Asif Kapadia’s Maradona.

For further information please visit www.film4productions.com