Saban Films Picks Up Irish Crime Drama “Calm with Horses”

After gaining acclaim at TIFF and the BFI London Film Festival, Saban Films has acquired Calm with Horses. The harrowing drama focuses on drug dealing in rural Ireland, where Arm serves as bodyguard and enforcer for the Devers family. He's also a father to an autistic child, and finds himself at a crossroads when he's given a sinister assignment.

The film stars Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk) and Cosmo Jarvis (Netflix's Peaky Blinders), as well as numerous actors familiar to fans of British crime thrillers. Both writer Joe Murtagh and director Nick Rowland make their feature debuts.

While no release date has been set, Calm with Horses rounds out an exceptional year for Saban, which includes three out-there festival favorites: Guns Akimbo with Daniel Radcliffe, Come to Daddy with Elijah Wood, and Vivarium with Jesse Eisenberg.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.