Peaches

Director: Nick Grosso

Year: 2000

Nick Grosso's award-winning play Peaches, produced by the Royal Court in association with the National Theatre Studio in 1994, launched the career of one of Britain's most promising new playwrights. Grosso now dons the director's hat with this adaptation of the play for the big screen, an ordeal that took some six years to realise. Exploring the identity crisis afflicting so many young 1990s men, the story revolves around sex-obsessed Frank and his student friends. From a Leeds college bar to the pubs of North London, their emotional adventures are charted in the seemingly nonchalant and comically-hip language of confused and hapless twentysomethings. Frank's summer as a carefree slacker looks rosy until his best friend starts a job scheme. Then, when his other mate moves in with a girl and a college sweetheart tells him a big secret, Frank's world starts to spin out of control. The film was inspired by Grosso's own personal philosophy when, as a student, life "wasn't about work, but about getting up in the morning -- about chicks and babes. Work was just a distraction". Besides Grosso's status as a voice of his generation, the film's saleability rests on its two stars, Matthew Rhys and Kelly Reilly. The former is an up-and-comer whose credits include the soon-to-be-released Sorted and Titus, the latter was recently seen in Ben Elton's Maybe Baby, and both have starred alongside Kathleen Turner in the West End stage version of The Graduate. Shot with backing from a mix of private equity finance and the Irish Film Board, the film will be offered to agents and distributors in the autumn.

Director: Ben O'Connor

Year: 2026

Robbie exists on the margins of society. He lives alone on a narrow boat in rural England with little means. He has found solace in isolation and a humble life. Unexpectedly he is contacted with the unwanted news of his estranged father’s death. This drags up emotions from the past that quickly become too much to bear… And so, the story begins… A journey back into his past. A journey on a motorcycle to find his mother. He drives, alone, through desolate landscapes, barren and mountainous, into the depths of his mind. A dream world where Robbie is forced to confront his past. Two stories emerge; memories from his childhood recurrently appear, fracturing the present where ex-lovers who have shaped his life confront him in surreal encounters. With time the two stories collide, past and present become one. The road leads in one direction, back to his childhood home and ultimately, his first and now final love; his mother. For where he began, he will now end and know himself for the first time.

Director: Simon Brooke

Year: 2025

Boyfriends Connor, Silas, and Connor’s dad Rob arrive home. Connor and Silas show affection. Rob drops his yellow work bucket in the kitchen. Little brother Max sits up for dinner while mum, Jan, plans for his sixth birthday. They watch the evening news announcing a scientific discovery; if a boy sees yellow while hearing a woman sing on his sixth birthday, he will grow up gay. The notion of this quotidian trigger creates a tense silence. Connor, anxious, realises his parents can choose whether Max grows up gay. The next day, Max chooses colours for his party, ignoring yellow. Connor sees the yellow bucket in the kitchen has been replaced with a blue one. That night, Connor wakes Max to ask if anyone told him what colours to pick. Max insists he chose his favourites. Before the party, Jan fears she is losing her voice. Rob takes Connor to the pub and reassures him the yellow bucket broke, and that he and Jan are proud Connor is gay. At the party, Connor withdraws to his room. Jan follows and finds he has hidden every yellow object in the house. Upset, they gently return to the celebration leaving the objects.