Introduction to Sunnymarch
Benedict Cumberbatch outlined the kind of projects where his production company Sunnymarch wants to work at the comprehensive master class session at the Zurich Film Festival. Cumberbatch was in Zurich to receive the Golden Eye Award of the festival before the demonstration of The Thing With Feathers, in which he plays and is produced by Sunnymarch.
Background of Sunnymarch
The Sherlock and Doctor Strange star set up Sunnymarch with producer Adam Ackland in 2013, and his previous credits include the latest publication The Roses Live In The Time, The End We Start, The Mauretan, and The Courier. The production and financing company Anton took over a minority stake in Sunnymarch in 2021.
Mission of Sunnymarch
"Our USP is to adapt the quality with commerciality that understands the kind of films that we like to grow up," said Cumberbatch, the two-time Oscar nominee for The Imitation Game and The Power of the Dog. The company tries to make films with budgets between 9 and 20 million GBP, a price range that Cumberbatch is "increasingly difficult according to Cumberbatch [for films] to be made."
Focus of Sunnymarch
He described the main focus of the company as a "character-driven trade fair with a film-driven flair, which has a purpose, a zeitgeist, not on lectures or bombastic or didactic way, but open." He also emphasized that Sunnymarch "likes to support filmmakers, writers, and directors and artists in general" for the first time.
Supporting New Filmmakers
He quoted the example of making The Thing With Feathers, the fiction feature of Dylan Southern, which is based on the book by Max Porter 2015 Grief Is The Thing With A Feather. It plays Cumberbatch as the father of two boys who mourn the sudden loss of his wife. "Dylan is an experienced documentary filmmaker, but this is his first feature. We have the two boys. That is her first work too." "Whether it is a filmmaker, whether it is authors, whether it is a story and topic, our door is wide open. We love to be surprised," said Cumberbatch.
The Thing With Feathers
The Thing With Feathers debuted in January at Sundance and played as a special gala in the Berlinale in February. It is produced by Adam Ackland and Leah Clarke for Sunnymarch with Andrea Cornwell’s Lobo films. It was developed with Film4, which co-financed together with the BFI and the Align in collaboration with the unusual creative studio, MK2 films, and ranking lists in co-production with film I Väst and Filmgate film.
Cumberbatch’s Role as a Producer
Cumberbatch alluded to his role as a producer and said his participation varies. "Sometimes I am very available for chains of e-mails … I love to look at changes. I love to fill suggestions. I love workshoping parts of scripts or how scenes could be turned or how the creative team forms." "The stuff that is really exciting is when you are in the room from the beginning and then deliver the audience there like today. It is nerve-wracking, but it is exciting to have this kind of complete participation. Sometimes I am doing it to do so, and sometimes I varies from project to project, but it is very creative, creative, creative."
Challenges for New Actors
Cumberbatch, President of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), also appeared with the challenges that new actors started who started in business and wanted to make a career. "I am lucky enough to be president of a drama school and to see all this hope and future in the eyes and to recognize that 90% of them may not have a career as an actor is quite shocking. It is a great privilege to tell stories that are important to them."
