Projects matching: Julian Kemp

Synopsis

Based on the internationally best selling Alain De Botton book of philosophy, Essays in Love (US title On Love), My Last Five Girlfriends is written and directed by multi BAFTA and International Emmy award winning director Julian Kemp.

Duncan generously walks us through his last five relationships. With advice from bizarre sources and intense flights of fancy, finally Duncan realises that love is a battleground where only the fittest can survive.

Synopsis

A tale of bingo hall rivalry set in the Welsh Valleys, House! stars Kelly Macdonald as Linda, a young bingo addict with a gift for guessing the numbers before they come up. When a new mega bingo arena under construction a mile up the valley threatens to close down her beloved Scala bingo hall, she tries to use her powers to save it, with comic results.

Jason Sutton's screenplay for the film received a reading at the Television Arts Performance Showcase in 1998 where first-time feature director Julian Kemp saw it and was immediately struck by its cinematic potential. "It was really funny and tapped into the humour of South Wales," he says. Kemp showed the script to producer Michael Kelk, with whom he had previously worked on children's television programmes, after which Kelk optioned the rights to the script. The next step was casting. Kemp says: "For Linda, we needed someone who was in their early 20s, who had real vitality and who could believably come from a small Welsh town. Surprisingly that turned out to be quite a short list and Kelly was at the top of it."

Kemp took the unusual step of recruiting Kjell Vassdal, a Norwegian director of photography to capture Wales on film. "I saw a fabulous Norwegian film called Junkmail in which the weather is very bad, but Kjell made it look spectacular. I thought if he can make Oslo look great, he can make Cardiff look great, and he did."

The film was released in the UK earlier this year.

Synopsis

Linda is devastated. La Scala, her wonderful bingo hall, is caught in the pincers of development. The council has finally noticed the decay and deterioration and are threatening demolition. And worse: A mile up the valley, Mega Pleasure has been built. The UK's biggest bingo arena. A stream of villagers begin the pilgrimage: the chance to play in the new National Bonanza game and win a million quid. Gavin, the charismatic caller and Linda's lover-elect, soon follows, lured by untold riches and natural fibres. Mr Anzani, Linda's friend, mentor and boss, is distraught. His family of Welsh-Italians have held the hall, in many guises, for over three generations. Is his to be the last?


But Linda discovers she has a gift: she can guess the numbers before they're called. She can decide who wins the games. The pathway to salvation is clear - everyone comes to the lucky hall. But who should she gift the million to? In desperation she seeks her auntie Beth's advice. 'Leave it well alone' is Beth's advice, telling Linda that her (recently deceased) Mother had the same strange abilities. But Linda doesn't leave it and soon finds that some gifts are best left unwrapped.