NEON has acquired the North American distribution rights to Mark Jenkin’s singular horror Enys Men, starring Mary Woodvine and Edward Rowe, which will premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival.

As with his critically acclaimed debut feature Bait, Jenkin acted not only as writer and director, but also as cinematographer, sound designer, and composer. Shot on 16mm color negative using a 1970’s clockwork Bolex camera and post sync sound, Enys Men evokes the feeling of discovering a reel of never before seen celluloid unspooling in a desolate, haunted movie palace. A provocative and uncompromising entry into the Horror genre, Enys Men sees Jenkin connect and extend the lineage of iconic chilling realism personified by Robin Hardy’s The Wickerman, Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, and Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs.

Set in 1973 on an uninhabited island off the British coast, a wildlife volunteer descends into a terrifying metaphysical and ecosophical journey that challenges her grip on reality and pushes her into a living nightmare. An ethereal fever dream of a horror that is as hypnotic as it is grounded in the cold Cornish stone, Enys Men asserts Jenkin as one of the U.K.’s most exciting and singular filmmakers.

Enys Men is produced by Denzil Monk for Bosena. Johnny Fewings serves as executive producer. Film4 co-financed the film, with Ben Coren and Lauren Dark serving as executive producers, and Kingsley Marshall for Sound/Image Cinema Lab.

NEON’s Sarah Colvin negotiated the North America deal with Protagonist Pictures’ George Hamilton who are also representing the worldwide sales rights.