The Ballad Of Wallis Island goes to Sundance

January 3, 2025

“Working with OnSight has been an exceptional experience; their expertise and dedication consistently enhance the quality of our TV and film projects, making them shine.” – Rupert Majendie, Lead Producer

3 time Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan, Tom Basden, and Tim Key are starring in The Ballad Of Wallis Island, a comedy based on Basden and Key’s BAFTA-Nominated short The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, directed by James Griffiths. The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2025!

Also directed by Griffiths, with a script by Basden and Key, The Ballad Of Wallis Island is the story of Charles (Key), a strange lottery winner intent on reuniting his favourite musicians Mortimer-McGwyer (Mulligan and Basden) for a private gig – irrespective of the fact they split up years ago… professionally and romantically. Sian Clifford (Fleabag) and Akemnji Ndifornyen (Famalam) will also star. 

The film is produced by Steve Coogan and Sarah Monteith’s Baby Cow Productions, with Rupert Majendie serving as lead producer and Steve Newton and Mark Murrell as Line Producers. Mulligan, Basden, Key and Griffiths executive producer alongside Sarah Monteith, Laurence Brown, Stephen Kelliher, and Yana Georgieva. OnSight provided full post production for the feature, delivering to Bankside and Focus Features for theatrical and home entertainment in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to the film, and they will release the film in the U.S. while Universal Pictures International is handling global distribution. 

“This film is a real labour of love for us that we’ve been hoping to return to for years. The mixture of laugh out loud comedy and emotional resonance that made the short such a hit with audiences over the years (including Carey!) is such a special and rare thing and we’re so excited to reprise the characters we love so much and fulfil the promise of the original short film.” – Tom Basden

Focus Features previously worked with producer Rupert Majendie on 2022 Sundance comedy Brian and Charles, for which we also provided post production. This time around, Senior Colourist Emily Russul Saib completed the grade, Andy Coles was re-recording mixer, and Senior Online Editor Adam Sample completed the online, all overseen by Lead Post Producer Jeff Halsey.