Projects in categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Set around youths in contemporary London, where cultures, class and race intermingle and influence each other freely and adopted American street style is the fashion of the day. Three teenagers, Jamie aka Rage, a rebellious rapper, Godwin (G), an introverted pianist, and Thomas (T), a forlorn DJ in search of a cause, find themselves in a slow spiral which begins to erode their bond of friendship after a botched-up attempt at a burglary fuelled by desparation. They are not professional thieves but teenagers in pursuit of a dream, to cut a hip hop record. Their failed act will sound a wake-up call which forces them to re-evaluate the true nature of their friendship, as their denied separate paths creep in.


Was their dream and friendship about making a record or based on a subconscious need of helping each other on their journeys of self-discovery and awakening? Hovering in the background of our protagonists' story are Jamie's friend and mentor Marcus, an elderly Rastafarian with a flawed wisdom and a penchant for marijuana which he cannot afford, and Jamie's single mother Ellen, a young woman struggling to navigate her children through the mine-filled existence of a London council estate where the resident charismatic drug lord Pin rules supreme.

Synopsis

Pete's (Rhys Ifans) business is going bust, his sperm count is dodgy, and his relationship with Sarah (Sadie Frost) is on the rocks. He's infatuated with his secretary Charlie (Dani Behr), despite her being hitched to his bike-messenger Trevor (Andrew Howard) and he's spending too much time in Harry's (Nick Moran) coke den. In short, Pete's in trouble.


Then his charming Irish accountant and boyhood pal Deeny (Joseph Fiennes) fixes up a meeting with the mysterious Russian Mr Kant (Steven Berkoff) and his 'assistant' (actually his daughter) Masha (Tara Fitzgerald). Masha and Pete get it together and Mr Kant comes over with the emergency loan. Pete is saved.


But then comes the payback: Pete is summoned off the M25 by Masha, and ordered to Russia. There, he is taken in hand by Dr Jones (Keith Allen), Mr Kant's guru, made love to again by Masha - and then appears to be killed by Mr Kant's terrifying bodyguard (Olegario Fedoro) as a warning to other Western 'partners'. Meanwhile it's clear that Deeny set the whole thing up and is plotting to take over Pete's firm - indeed his whole life.


However, Pete's not dead. Returning to London, he finds Sarah's pregnant and he's got to kill Deeny. The only people Pete can turn to are Charlie and Trevor. Masha is pregnant too and Mr Kant won't intervene.


Pete's got a great plan, and Masha agrees to help with the greatest - and most bizarrely convincing alibi ever, but just as its all coming together Pete learns that Deeny has Sarah and Charlie at his mercy. Now Masha and Mr Kant must help and race to his aid, but Pete has to face Deeny alone, head-to-head, and right up to the final frames.

Synopsis

When producer Alison Owen first read the script for Rat, written by 65-year-old Irish writer Wesley Burrowes, she was convinced "it had been written by some post-modernist kid out of film school". An easy mistake to make given that the script she describes as a "Kafka comedy" is about a Guinness-loving man who comes home from the pub only to turn into a rat.



"For me, the joke was never that a man turns into a rat, it was more the humorous potential of a clash of perspectives," says Burrowes. "You have an ordinary family to whom this tragic thing happens and the real comedy is in the way they receive it. They're immensely pragmatic, ordinary, decent people and suddenly this calamity occurs and they proceed to treat it as if it's just one of those domestic events that are upsetting... like woodworm in the furniture."



Director Steve Barron signed on immediately, as did Stewart Till of Universal Pictures International. Production took place in Ireland in November 1999 with Imelda Staunton and Pete Postlethwaite in the key roles of wife and husband rat. Barron and Owen took the unusual decision to use real rather than animatronic rats.



"Our film is sort of opposite to films like Stuart Little or Babe," Owen explains. "Whereas those films are all about the audience imbuing the animal with human characteristics, in Rat the characters are imbuing the rats with human personalities and the audience sees this as completely ridiculous."



Rat premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in July to great audience acclaim.

Synopsis

Imagine waking up early on your birthday, only to be confronted by your condescending boss, then you wake up again! The only thing that you are sure of is the aggression you feel towards your boss...

Synopsis

New adaption of Nevil Shute's On The Beach in which a cast of Australian actors combine a studio performance set against contemporary images of Melbourne

Synopsis

A film actor from the silent era recalls making his last film, finally offering an explanation for the construction of one of Scotland's most absurd architectural follies.

Synopsis

Eric Styles' adaptation of Noel Coward's Relative Values marks Julie Andrews' first screen role for eight years. Andrews stars as the Countess of Marshwood who puts on a brave face when her son brings home a brash American movie star he plans to marry.



Andrews was immediately drawn to the script as she had known Coward personally. "He was a dear friend of mine," she explains. "I have sung many of his songs and always been a great admirer of his work. I was also very impressed with Eric's debut film, Dreaming Of Joseph Lees, and thought he might be an interesting young man to work with. I also love the period the film is set in. It embodies that true 1950s glamour."



British writers Paul Rattigan and Michael Walker acquired the rights to Relative Values from the Coward Estate in 1996. Overseas FilmGroup and British producer Chris Milburn boarded the project at Cannes the following year. Styles, with whom Milburn was working at the time on Joseph Lees, agreed to direct.



"Most of my work had been more gritty and realistic, so making a film about this crazy, implausible situation happening in a country house in Kent with aristocrats in the 1950s was a wonderful challenge," says Styles. "The film works for a contemporary audience because the madness of the whole situation is so appealing."



Relative Values shot for 10 weeks at the end of last summer on location on the Isle of Man, which stood in for Kent. It opened in the UK in July.

Synopsis

Maria is a refugee working in London as a housemaid to an actress. The actress is rehearsing a Robert Browning poem. Maria, listening to the poem day after day, becomes the embodiment of it.

Synopsis

A quick glance at the message indicator LED will tell you whether callers have left messages while you have been away. If you have messages waiting, the message indicator will be flashing...

Synopsis

God, dammit, if you're gonna kill somebody have some fucking taste. I'll drive you to Kenny Roger's house, alright?



Bill Hicks, 1990 on John Lennon's untimely death.





Bill Hicks was a comedian. He died in 1994 at the age of 32.





Who?



Julia Menzies, 1994, on Bill Hicks' untimely death.





Julia Menzies (22) doesn't know what she wants to do with her life yet, but does know who Bill Hicks is now. In fact, it's her growing obsession with Bill that's fuelling her quest to find a vocation that doesn't demand compromise.





Perhaps the pub isn't the best place to look. And maybe her friends and advisors would have a little more credibility if their lives weren't quite so far from what they want them to be. But then this is Edinburgh, and the largest arts festival in the world is on hand to help Julia test if she really has the courage of her convictions. And if not, what's the point?

Synopsis

In Rhythm & Blues two London worlds collide in a dark and gleaming comic thriller. Beginning in a graveyard, Rhythm & Blues follows the adventures of a Scottish skinhead, Byron and his enigmatic Adonis protégé, John.





The pair are adopted by the male dysfunctional male escort agency, 'Boys Galore', run by the Dickensian duo, Mitzi and Bethsheba, which leads to a surreal encounter with American tycoon Bad Daddy and his courtiers.





Bad Daddy lives in a gothic palace with his love addicted French companion, Jean-Claude (who is also a master of gay marionettes). The house becomes centre-stage for a massive clash of personalities and cultures. Hiding amongst this incongruous group is a serial killer masquerading as an escort and nicknamed by the tabloid press as 'The Rent Boy Ripper'.





The result is a dangerous cocktail of the streetwise and the louche which pushes to the limits the ties of friendship bound by the contradictory forces of love, lust and loot.





Side-stepping political correctness and good taste, Rhythm & Blues is irreverent, high camp, slapstick and totally over-the top mixed with a touch of John Waters, Ealing Comedy and Pedro Almodovar.

Synopsis

Jilted bride Kelly-Marie is having the worst day of her life. But when the ladies' toilets become centre stage for a life or death drama, the situation calls for action.