Projects in categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Encouraged by the response to his short film Any Dream Will Do and by editor Mark Aarons, writer-director Julian Simpson began developing a first feature inspired by film noir and Hitchcockian chase thrillers in which a hapless innocent is caught in the vortex of events beyond their control.

"I didn't want to make a film noir picture as such," Simpson explains. "I don't think you can emulate something which was so particular to a period, but I was fascinated by the premise of a relentless chase and how the directors of that time conveyed a story."

In The Criminal, Steven MacKintosh plays a penniless musician whose close encounter with a beautiful woman (Natasha Little) leaves him the prime suspect in a brutal murder. The more he tries to prove his innocence, the more he is trapped in a far-reaching conspiracy.

Response to the screenplay was immediate from industry figures and actors alike and the project gained early momentum when Simpson teamed up with producer Christopher Johnson. A round of meetings brought H Michael Heuser's Storm Entertainment on board as a sales agent and a slew of European pre-sales followed that provided approximately half of the budget. The remaining half of the financing was secured through partnership with Palm Pictures.

The film was warmly received at the 1999 London Film Festival and was subsequently purchased by Paramount Pictures for UK, Australia and New Zealand. It opens in the UK this October.

Synopsis

Already the subject of much advance interest for providing the first 'serious' role for comedian Eddie Izzard. The Criminal is an accomplished debut feature, part London neo-noir and part conspiracy thriller. After a night spend trying to impress a beautiful woman in his local bar, Jasper is pleasantly surprised when she agrees to go back to his place. What he has not foreseen is that his apparent good fortune will plunge him into a nightmare world of murder, extortion and corruption. As an intricate web of deception and fear wraps ever more tightly around Jasper, the complexity of what he has stumbled into becames terrifyingly clear.

Synopsis

When The Creditor comes to collect, Arthur finds The Creditor himself is in debt. It is not long before Arthur feels he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

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.

Synopsis

A young man who behaves and thinks like an old lady, looks back on life. A thoughtful, surreal look at age and accomplishment, filmed in the Southern Hebrides.

Synopsis

Set at night in London, this is the story of four men, a package and Dr. Hook. No matter what else happens 'Nitin' has a passion to get the job done right this time.

Synopsis

"It's the simplest of stories but the dramatic core is very strong," says Neil Jordan of Graham Greene's novel on which The End Of The Affair is based.



Inspired by Greene's own affair with Catherine Walston, the story tells of an adulterous romance between writer Maurice Bendrix and civil servant's wife Sarah Miles. Miles breaks off the affair and Bendrix only later discovers that it is not another man who came between them but a bargain she made with God.



For Jordan, the casting was crucial to making this intense drama of moral dilemmas "understandable and believable in human terms". Ralph Fiennes proved a natural choice for Bendrix as far as the director and his long-time collaborator, producer Stephen Woolley, were concerned. "I thought Ralph would convey that disenchanted, embittered 1940s intellectual," says Jordan. When it came to choosing Sarah, Jordan tested several actresses but says Julianne Moore "blew me away". His decision more than paid off when Moore was nominated this year for best actress in the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. Jordan regular Stephen Rea took on the role of Sarah's husband Henry. "It was a real challenge for Stephen, but he manages to portray Henry sympathetically without putting the other characters in a bad light," says Woolley.



After a limited US release at the end of 1999, The End Of The Affair was released in the UK in February and has since opened internationally. Besides best actress, it scored an Oscar nomination for Roger Pratt's cinematography, and Golden Globe nods for Jordan and for Michael Nyman's score. It also won several awards at this year's Baftas.

Synopsis

A poetic portrait of a woman trapped in a child's mind, whose life is changed when a boy on a motorbike comes into her world.

Synopsis

When Eileen is forced to return to her mother's house with her seven-year-old son, old wounds are reopened and all three begin to rebuild relationships.

Synopsis

A stylish drama about an unlucky gambler who cannot stop playing fruit machines.

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A petrol pump bandit is at large, stealing petrol in an effort to raise public awareness of the outrageous prices paid for petrol in this country.

Synopsis

Surviving the Burma campaign, Mr Peters has a new enemy - this time in the urban jungle. The old soldier has some useful survival skills but when his memory fails him, he presents a great danger - to himself.


A story of everyday survival against the onslaught of old age . . .