Well, here’s a little bit of news to tickle your udders on this fine Friday. 606 Distribution has announced that their udderly surreal new Estonian animated comedy, The Old Man Movie: Lactopalypse, will be heading to UK cinemas in the late Spring.
Starting with director Q&A screenings between 24th and 29th May, the film will be in cinemas UK wide from 2nd June. Based on a popular Estonian web series, 606 Distribution say “The Old Man Movie: Lactopalypse is the most outrageous, crowd-pleasing, stop-motion comedy in years.”
What’s the story? Well, I’m glad you asked!
In a remote Estonian village, three children from the city are forced to spend the summer on their grandfather’s farm. Determined to make them see the simple beauty of country living, he sets them to work, only to have them accidentally set loose his prized but thoroughly mistreated cow.
Now they have only 24 hours to find and milk the rogue bovine before its exponentially expanding udders explode and unleash the Lactopalypse. To make matters worse, a decrepit, disgraced farmer and his chainsaw-wielding gang is also determined to catch the animal, with murder on his mind.
On their epic journey, our heroes must face festival hippies, vicious forest dwellers, strange woodland sprites, heavy-metal rockers and other dangers commonly found in the Estonian countryside!
Commenting on the film, 606’s Director of Acquisition, Sales and Operations, Pat Kelman, said:
“When I saw the film, I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my chair! It has the animation style of Wallace and Gromit, and the wild humour and spirit of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I was instantly in love with it and completely blown away by its anarchic spirit, its surreal humour, its sly inventiveness, and also by its gross-out elements (I’m not going to lie).
“Growing up in rural Cornwall, I saw so many parallels with the Cornish farming community (and I love cows). I’m not saying I know people like the Old Man, but… I just knew that this had to be the first genre film that 606 releases, and I’m delighted at the response so far from the cinema community. I can’t wait to share it with audiences.”
Directed by Oskar Lehemaa & Mikk Mägi, The Old Man Movie: Lactopalypse has already proved to be a big hit back home, as well as on the international stage, having picked up a number of awards. These include three Estonian Film and TV Awards, as well as ‘Best Animation Film’ at the Shanghai Film Festival, and ‘The Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation – Best Feature Film’ at the Fantasia Film Festival, amongst others.
When it arrives in the UK, expect The Old Man Movie: Lactopalypse to clock up plenty of new fans on this side of the pond too. The movie will be screened in its original Estonian with English subtitles, and goes on general release in June.
It's A Stampede! 
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