Projects matching: Just

Synopsis

Poached tells the story of a young salmon poacher who comes to terms with his desire to leave his problematic family and homeland. Set in the rural community of the Scottish borders.

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

When misanthrope Russell Square falls under a tube train he thinks his troubles are over. However, finding that he has fallen into a bizarre nowhere called The Gap, inhabited by an Angel called Islington, he realises that his troubles have only just begun.

Synopsis

When seven-year-old Davy is trapped inside his home with the man who nearly killed his mother, he is forced to fight back. Fuelled by fear he grabs the opportunity to retaliate with the only weapons he has at his disposal - the shiny new keys he wears around his neck.

Synopsis

Award-winning playwright Conor McPherson steps behind the camera for the first time with Saltwater, a tale of ordinary folk in extraordinary circumstances. In an out-of-season coastal town in Ireland, the local chippie is on the verge of going under. Ever since his mother's death, Frank (Peter McDonald) has been helping his father (Brian Cox) hold the fort. But dad is in hock to the local bookie and loan shark (Brendan Gleeson) so Frank takes matters into his own hands and robs the bookie. Needless to say, things don't quite go as planned.

Inspired by a dream McPherson had several years ago, the film began as a stage play called This Lime Tree Bower, which took the form of a series of monologues from the three main characters: Frank, his younger brother Joe, who feels his mother's absence the most, and Ray, a university tutor who is in love with the brothers' older sister.

McPherson then teamed up with producer Robert Walpole, who, along with his directing partner Paddy Breathnach, had turned his first screenplay, I Went Down, into an award-winning hit film. Saltwater went into production just as McPherson's acclaimed play The Weir was earning raves on Broadway in New York.

The film world-premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlin Film Festival in February where audience reaction was favourable. It had its Irish premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh in July and will open in Ireland through Buena Vista in September.

Synopsis

Some Voices has come a long way from its theatrical origins. The journey started when Elinor Day, then at the BBC, saw Joe Penhall's acclaimed play about two brothers, one of whom is schizophrenic, at London's Royal Court theatre. "I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it," says Day, who commissioned Penhall to adapt it as a film script. "Penhall has such an original vision of the world."



Day took Some Voices with her when she moved to FilmFour, where Paul Webster liked it and agreed to commission re-writes. Penhall reworked the script thoroughly over four years, finding a visual equivalent for the "gothic, heightened naturalism" of the play's dialogue. The result, Penhall says, is "a film based loosely on the play, rather than an adaptation", with the slide back into illness of schizophrenic Ray (Daniel Craig) depicted in imaginative imagery rather than words.



FilmFour brought Simon Cellan Jones on board to direct. Although it is his feature debut, the director had an impressive track record in television, including the Bafta-winning Our Friends In The North.



The story is set in Shepherd's Bush, west London, where Cellan Jones lives and Penhall used to. The film was shot on location in six weeks, with a handheld camera capturing the locals' everyday life. "Every now and again you would get people looking into the camera and yelling, but we would just have to let it go," says Cellan Jones.



Some Voices premiered in Directors' Fortnight at Cannes this year.

Synopsis

Ruky has just been ordered to leave the UK by the British Home Office. Her world is suddenly torn apart.


Ebenezer her boyfriend could marry her and she would be granted a permanent visa, but he's a deeply religious man who would only marry for love.


Lucky Okoro has just inherited his late father's millions. His close friend and laywer Dele is anxious to help him consolidate his investments, all for just 10% of the total value.


Ruky soon meets Lucky and Dele, and the quest begins to find out what she really wants.

Synopsis

A mini cab appears and Alistair assumes that his disaster of an evening is over - only to discover that it is just beginning.

Synopsis

After a mysterious murder in the backstreets of London, a police officer must spring into action to bring the killer to justice.

Synopsis

After a wild night out, Lawrence decides to change his lifestyle. He visits old friends, but a destructive love triangle reveals other reasons for his visit.

Synopsis

Described as an English slacker movie and inspired by the film-making methods of Mike Leigh, Ken Loach and Kevin Smith, The Devil's Feast explores issues such as religion, sex, politics and violence as it tells the story of Chloe Mason (Cait Sweeney), a conceptual artist whose latest work, The Devil's Feast, has split the art world in two. Flashbacks reveal what inspired Chloe to produce such a controversial exhibition, introducing the friends and acquaintances that influenced her. The result is part psychological drama, part black comedy that its producers say aims to keep the viewer guessing.

Shot on digital video, the no-budget film follows the format of Mischief Pictures' previous 50min film, 4 Play, which was made two years ago using a non-professional cast, an improvised script and hand-held camera in an attempt to capture the real life rather than the dreaming spires cliche of the town of Oxford. "We shot over about five months with equipment given to us by two production companies," says producer Richard Duriez, who, like director Sharon Woodward, has a background in documentaries."It was incredibly difficult but we wanted to develop our skills at feature film-making. We've met so many film-makers who have got backing to make their first feature and cocked it up so we decided to make sure we knew how before looking for financing."

The Devil's Feast premiered at the Oxford Phoenix Picture House in November 1999 and has just screened at the Portobello Film Festival in August.